![\"Rachel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769572811_507_fcd0cf35489c52846335f81cd530949e8ec046ac.png\")
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March 29, 2026 \u2014 3:18pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Controversial Victorian parliamentarian Moira Deeming has been dumped from the Liberal Party\u2019s upper house ticket in a hard-fought preselection ballot that threatens to end her political career.<\/p>\n But the loss will further fuel speculation she could defect to another party such as One Nation or the Libertarians, though she has not indicated she would. Both minor parties have left the option open.<\/p>\n Dozens of Liberal members met at party headquarters on Collins Street on Sunday to preselect the party\u2019s candidates for the Western Metropolitan Region at the upcoming November election.<\/p>\n Deeming \u2013 who wore Liberal blue \u2013 faced a two-pronged challenge for the safe No.1 position.<\/p>\n Dinesh Gourisetty beat both Deeming and her fellow MP Trung Luu in a vote yet to be endorsed by the party\u2019s state executive. Two sources said Gourisetty received 39 votes, Deeming 26 and Luu three. Luu then retained the second position.<\/p>\n Deeming did not nominate for the second position or wait for that result. She immediately walked out of party headquarters after her loss about 3pm with her husband, Andrew, and declined to comment.<\/p>\n As attendees began to disperse, Gourisetty supporters embraced outside party headquarters to celebrate.<\/p>\n Deeming was repeatedly falsely defamed<\/a> as a Nazi sympathiser by former Liberal leader John Pesutto in her first months in parliament, a saga that has dogged the party for three years.<\/p>\n One of Deeming\u2019s supporters told waiting journalists that he hoped she defects to One Nation and unloaded on Pesutto, who was not present for Sunday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n The result means Deeming\u2019s time in parliament will come to an end at the November election unless she moves to a winning position in another party.<\/p>\n One Nation state president Warren Pickering said the party had a great working relationship with Deeming, and was open to discussions.<\/p>\n \u201cMoira\u2019s a woman of great substance,\u201d Pickering said. \u201cWe\u2019d hate to see Moira find herself in the same political wilderness as the Liberal Party has chosen to explore.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re open to talk to people of great substance and conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n Libertarian MP David Limbrick, who worked closely with Deeming during her time on the crossbench, said she had been treated dreadfully by the Liberal Party and would need time to consider her options.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Libertarians are ruling nothing out or in at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n Liberals were already speculating on Sunday afternoon that Deeming could quit the parliamentary team this week, having missed recent party room meetings. One party member, unable to speak publicly due to party rules, hoped this was a \u201cline in the sand\u201d and an opportunity to reset.<\/p>\n Opposition Leader Jess Wilson had intervened in an attempt to spare Deeming, having worked the phones for days, to the frustration of some party members.<\/p>\n Liberals expect to easily re-elect two MPs in the region at the November election, particularly given Labor\u2019s waning popularity after three terms. But the spectre of One Nation could challenge that confidence. The Liberal Party was relegated to just one upper house MP in the Western Metropolitan Region in the 2018 \u201cDanslide\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI am seeking your support for preselection because we have a real opportunity to rebuild and strengthen the Liberal presence across Melbourne\u2019s west. For more than 15 years I have served our party at the grassroots level, supporting candidates, organising volunteers, raising funds and helping strengthen our presence across the region,\u201d Gourisetty wrote in his candidate brochure.<\/p>\n \u201cFamilies in the west deserve the same level of opportunity and services enjoyed by communities in other parts of Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article The party stripped voting rights from four delegates in the days leading up to the preselection, using justifications under the party\u2019s constitution such as that they worked for MPs. Sources unable to speak publicly believed the unusual attention to the constitution was designed to ensure the outcomes of such preselections could withstand scrutiny.<\/p>\n The legitimacy of the branch meetings in which delegates were elected had also faced challenges.<\/p>\n Deeming had the support of conservative former prime minister Tony Abbott and his former chief of staff turned Sky host, Peta Credlin.<\/p>\n Abbott said the first-term MP had \u201cshown remarkable magnanimity, given all that\u2019s happened to her\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t think of anyone who\u2019s had to endure so much \u2018friendly fire\u2019, yet remained a staunch Liberal, and any preselector who doesn\u2019t want to keep her in the state parliamentary party room I reckon has a death wish,\u201d the former prime minister wrote in an endorsement for Deeming.<\/p>\n Credlin\u2019s letter of recommendation said beating the old Labor government will require \u201cwarriors\u201d like Deeming.<\/p>\n \u201cI have met a lot of people in public life since I first joined the Victorian division some 30 years ago, but I have never met a more tenacious, more resilient and more fearless person than Moira,\u201d Credlin wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cFew of us could have withstood the things she has, and yet not only has she emerged victorious and stronger for it, but throughout her period of persecution, she never gave up on her commitment to the Liberal cause and that says everything about her character.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson has written endorsements for all her MPs who have requested them during the upper house preselection season and attended each vote.<\/p>\n Former national Labor president-turned-Liberal Nyunggai Warren Mundine also endorsed her candidacy, writing that western suburbs people \u201ccouldn\u2019t care less about the latest woke ideologies\u201d.<\/p>\n Leader of the opposition in the upper house Bev McArthur comfortably withstood a challenge on Saturday to hold the No.1 ticket spot in the Western Victoria region. Former MP Graham Watt was elected to the second position.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Moira](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/548a2fbd2ee450ccd54a331d64c9df10e88d7374.jpeg\")
Moira Deeming and husband Andrew quickly left party headquarters on Sunday.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n![\"Dinesh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/c1fcbda3f59d74debb027b3da6983cd49d76afb2.jpeg\")
Dinesh Gourisetty arrives at Liberal Party HQ before being preselected.Rachel Eddie<\/p>\n![\"Liberal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774768931_549_81463c22ad1533bd601d1e90749da522f32da22b.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Rachel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fcd0cf35489c52846335f81cd530949e8ec046ac.png\")
Rachel Eddie<\/a> is a Victorian state political reporter for The Age. Contact her at rachel.eddie@theage.com.au, rachel.eddie@protonmail.com, or via Signal at @RachelEddie.99Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 29, 2026 \u2014 3:18pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-571591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}