An eight-minute meeting at a suburban business park in Melbourne\u2019s west last month has become the latest flashpoint in the Victorian Liberal party\u2019s internal battle.<\/p>\n
The Laverton branch gathered for what was meant to be a routine vote to elect delegates who will help decide whether the upper house MP Moira Deeming can run again for the party at November\u2019s state election.<\/p>\n
Deeming\u2019s supporters claim they were given an incorrectly formatted address for the 5pm meeting, sending them to the wrong location.<\/p>\n
When they walked into the venue at 5.01pm, they say the presiding officer told them he was \u201clocking the doors\u201d and they would not be allowed to take part.<\/p>\n
By 5.09pm, the meeting was over, according to a written complaint sent to the Liberals\u2019 state director, Alyson Hannam, seen by Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a fix,\u201d claims one party member who was locked out. The member alleges those inside \u201chad already predetermined the outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n
But three senior Liberal sources, unable to comment publicly on internal matters, tell a very different story.<\/p>\n
They say the Deeming supporters were simply late. One source says even if those outside had voted, it would not have changed the fact Deeming doesn\u2019t have the numbers to win the preselection ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s toast,\u201d the source says.<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n An internal tally leaked to Guardian Australia and circulated among MPs this week shows Deeming\u2019s main challenger, Dinesh Gourisetty, well ahead of her. Only 15 votes remain undecided, including 14 from a random pool of members drawn from across metropolitan Melbourne \u2013 a group that has been the target of intensive lobbying in recent weeks.<\/p>\n Deeming\u2019s detractors circulated a photograph from a 2024 Equal Access for Autism fundraiser showing her alongside Mick Gatto<\/a>, an alleged Melbourne underworld figure. It has taken on heightened relevance given the Coalition used question time last week to attack the government over Gatto\u2019s alleged \u201cmalignant influence\u201d on Big Build sites.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, high-profile conservatives \u2013 including the media commentator Peta Credlin \u2013 have been hitting the phones in support of Deeming.<\/p>\n Credlin has also written a reference letter describing Deeming as a \u201crare individual who can unite social conservatives, disaffected Labor types, every day working-class people who believe in family values but feel abandoned, and the migrant communities of her region\u201d.<\/p>\n She says she has \u201cnever met a more tenacious, more resilient and more fearless person than Moira\u201d, referring to her \u201cperiod of persecution\u201d when Deeming was expelled from the Liberal party room<\/a> after threatening legal action against the then leader John Pesutto. Deeming ultimately won her legal fight<\/a>, leading to Pesutto losing the leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best politicians come through fire, are tested and made stronger for it,\u201d Credlin wrote.<\/p>\n Credlin also wrote a column last week<\/a> alleging that Deeming\u2019s \u201copponents are allegedly trying to rig the preselection numbers against her\u201d.<\/p>\n Branch meeting concerns aired<\/p>\n Deeming wrote to Hannam to raise concerns about several branch meetings last month. She claimed that, similar to Laverton, doors were closed at exactly 6pm at a Kororoit branch meeting, while ID checks were not performed at Point Cook, Tarneit or Werribee. Ineligible members were also listed as eligible and allowed to vote across several branches, she alleged, while asking for the meetings to be declared invalid and re-run.<\/p>\n Hannam replied, writing that she took these matters seriously, acted within the constitution and on the basis of evidence provided to her from \u201cvarious parties\u201d to the branch meetings.<\/p>\n \u201cWith all information I have reviewed, there is no cause for meetings in the Western Metro Region to be re-held,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n On Thursday Deeming looped in the entire state executive, along with her solicitor, Patrick George, to the correspondence \u2013 a step that could signal potential legal action.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now moving into the fourth year since the campaign to defame and expel me from this party began,\u201d she said. \u201cClearly that campaign continues to this day, despite my repeated attempts to resolve it internally,.\u201d<\/p>\n Deeming declined to comment when contacted by Guardian Australia due to party rules that prohibit candidates from speaking publicly on preselections.<\/p>\n Hannam said: \u201cThis is an internal party matter, all matters are carefully considered.\u201d<\/p>\n The One Nation factor<\/p>\n According to the internal party tally, the final undecided vote belongs to the opposition leader, Jess Wilson. But it is understood Wilson \u2013 or her proxy \u2013 plans to vote for every sitting MP in the preselection ballots.<\/p>\n Wilson has also written Deeming a reference letter \u2013 as she has for every other sitting MP who requested it \u2013 in which she describes Deeming as an \u201carticulate and effective advocate for our party\u2019s values in a part of Melbourne where people are increasingly interested in voting for change\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Liberal party needs candidates like Moira in Melbourne\u2019s west, which will be such an important battleground for the 2026 state election,\u201d Wilson wrote. \u201cWe must win seats from Labor in the west to secure government.\u201d<\/p>\n The Coalition is now 16 seats behind Labor.<\/p>\n Polling suggests One Nation could be its biggest barrier to forming government. A Redbridge\/Accent Research poll released on Wednesday<\/a> suggests the Coalition vote has dropped to 28% from 40%, while One Nation has increased to 24%.<\/p>\n Wilson told reporters there would be \u201cno alliance\u201d with the party \u2013 but did not rule out a preference deal, saying it was a matter for the executive.<\/p>\n