Expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming scores huge $300,000 win in high-stakes defamation battle with Opposition leader John Pesutto

Ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming has been applauded from the court after winning a defamation case and $300,000 in damages against Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto.

Federal Court Judge David O’Callaghan ruled that Pesutto defamed Ms Deeming by suggesting or implying she was a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer when she expelled her from the Liberal Party last year.

Ms Deeming claimed Pesutto defamed her after a Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne in March 2023, which was crashed by a group of neo-Nazi protesters on the steps of Victoria’s Parliament, a claim he denied.

However, Judge O’Callaghan found that Pesutto had defamed Ms Deeming in a press release, two radio interviews, a press conference and in an expulsion motion from the party.

The judge ruled that Pesutto suggested Ms Deeming was unfit to be a member of the parliamentary Liberal Party because of her links to the Nazis.

Mr Pesutto was not in court to hear the decision, while Ms Deeming was supported by her husband and a group of women.

The group cheered after the judge left the bench as Ms Deeming’s husband gave her a hug.

Outside the court, Ms Deeming made a brief statement to the waiting media.

“Clearly I am very pleased with today’s outcome and I am very grateful to the court for their prompt consideration,” Ms Deeming said outside court.

“I just want to say, think of everyone who has stood by me and we’re just going to go out and get sex-based rights for women and child protection for children.”

Earlier in the day, a broadly smiling Ms Deeming was seen walking confidently into the courtroom, flanked by her legal team.

Judge O’Callaghan had some harsh words about Ms Pesutto’s testimony at the trial. His cross-examination lasted four days.

“Its length was in significant part due to his inability or refusal to provide a simple answer to simple enough questions,” Judge O’Callaghan wrote in his ruling.

The judge said he understood that when politicians “engage in the cutting edge of politics” and are confronted with tough questions at press conferences, “their job may be to deflect questions, focus on another subject or to run out the clock’.

Mr. Pesutto (pictured with his wife Betty Pesutto) was not in federal court to hear the verdict against him

Neo-Nazi protesters stormed a women’s rights protest in March 2023, leading to Mr Pesutto expelling Ms Deeming from the Liberal Party

However, Judge O’Callaghan said such evasions were ‘not the role of a witness in a legal proceeding’.

“Time and time again, Mr. Pesutto provided lengthy and unresponsive answers,” Judge O’Callaghan wrote.

During the three-and-a-half week trial in September, Ms Deeming, who now an independent MP, told the court that the black-clad men escorted by police to the women’s meeting area had nothing to do with her protest.

Mr. Pesutto was also charged British women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen and fellow Let Women Speak rally organizer Angie Jones settled the cases out of court in May.

As part of that settlement, he was forced to issue a groveling apology.

“I never believed or intended to claim that Kellie-Jay Keen and Angela Jones are neo-Nazis,” he wrote.

“I agree with them that genuine community concerns about women’s safety and access to single-sex spaces, services and sports warrant meaningful public discussion.

“My comments may have been misinterpreted as a sign that I believed this was the case. I apologize for any pain, distress or harm that may have occurred.”