{"id":761423,"date":"2026-06-26T11:27:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761423\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T11:27:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:27:17","slug":"matthew-guy-moira-deeming-saga-victorian-liberal-party-poised-to-part-with-deeming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761423\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Guy-Moira Deeming saga: Victorian Liberal Party poised to part with Deeming"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Victorian Liberal Party has begun the process of severing ties with its most controversial MP, with Opposition Leader Jess Wilson on Friday sending a clear message to Moira Deeming that she has lost the support of the party.<\/p>\n

Wilson publicly backed Matthew Guy\u2019s demand for a public apology from Deeming after a police investigation found no substance to Deeming\u2019s allegations he had assaulted her<\/a>. She said she would meet Deeming once she returned home from an overseas conference.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Victorian Liberal Party is expected to sever ties with MP Moira DeemingSimon Schluter<\/p>\n

\u201cMatthew is someone who has given his life to service,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cHe has given his life to the Liberal Party, and I support his request for an apology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have reached out to Moira, and I have requested when she returns to Melbourne that we speak and have a conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s first substantive comments about the latest imbroglio surrounding Deeming, while carefully framed, reflect a broad consensus across both moderate and conservative groupings within the Liberal Party that Deeming must go.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Matthew<\/a><\/p>\n

Several senior Liberal figures, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal party matters, said Deeming\u2019s unsubstantiated accusations against Guy had exhausted the patience of even her most loyal supporters and she was now completely isolated from the party.<\/p>\n

Deeming was preselected two months ago to recontest her upper house seat at the November state election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t find a single supporter of Moira who is left in the state or federal parliamentary parties, in the organisational wing, in our wider movement,\u201d one senior Liberal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven some of her most loyal supporters, people who have consistently and publicly defended her, are now saying they are finished with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer pathway is self-evidently clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OppositionOpposition Leader Jess Wilson has been careful in her response to the Moira Deeming-Matthew Guy saga.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n

A senior member of Wilson\u2019s team was equally emphatic: \u201cShe must resign or the party must act. She cannot possibly be our candidate going into November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s preference, one shared by key figures in the federal Liberal Party and the administrative committee that governs the state party, is for Deeming to resign from the party and serve out the remainder of this parliamentary term as an independent.<\/p>\n

Overtures are likely to be made by Liberals previously sympathetic to Deeming to convince her to quit.<\/p>\n

She is in London, where she has spent the past three days attending the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference<\/a> alongside federal Liberal Party president Tony Abbott<\/a>, state party president Brian Loughnane<\/a>, Loughnane\u2019s wife and Sky News host Peta Credlin, and conservative luminaries from Britain and around the world.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Opposition<\/a><\/p>\n

An MP who sided with Deeming in her previous dispute with the party that triggered her successful defamation case against former leader John Pesutto<\/a> said it was important for Deeming to retain control over her own political fate.<\/p>\n

If Deeming cannot be persuaded to resign, the party may prepare disciplinary action that could lead to her suspension or expulsion and removal of her endorsement to stand for the party at the November 28 election.<\/p>\n

The four vice-presidents of the administrative committee, Cathrine Burnett-Wake, Geoff Gledhill, Ellinor Read and Trent Sullivan, met on Thursday \u2013 a few hours before Victoria Police issued a statement announcing its investigation into Deeming\u2019s assault allegations<\/a> found no case for Guy to answer \u2013 to discuss the party\u2019s next steps.<\/p>\n

Deeming accused Guy of assaulting her by putting her in a violent headlock in the middle of a public dinner on May 23. CCTV footage taken from inside the Macedonian community event instead showed an innocuous interaction in which Guy briefly puts his arm on Deeming\u2019s shoulder as the pair lean forward to hear one another in the middle of a crowded, noisy room.<\/p>\n

Deeming lodged a complaint with police on June 16. Guy was not questioned by police.<\/p>\n

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said on Friday the CCTV footage told a clear story. \u201cOften it is a matter of perception, but we deal with reality and we deal with evidence, and that is what we have made our decision based on,\u201d he told Radio 3AW.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is mainly based on the video that is in the public domain. I think everybody has come to a similar conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

This masthead put multiple questions to Deeming concerning her allegations against Guy. She responded with insults and did not address questions. Deeming is scheduled to speak on Wednesday at a public function in Werribee.<\/p>\n

\"MatthewMatthew Guy has demanded Moira Deeming apologise for making an assault allegation against him. Simon Schluter<\/p>\n

Guy said on Friday that Deeming owed him a public apology.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family name, my reputation is not a political toy,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one\u2019s is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no ambiguity. I did not do what was alleged. The CCTV proves this, it did from the start, and Victoria Police agree.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was also owed an apology from Premier Jacinta Allan and Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny, who on Thursday sought to exploit the turmoil caused by Deeming\u2019s claims for political gain.<\/p>\n

\"GuyGuy at his press conference on Friday.Simon Schluter<\/p>\n

Guy\u2019s hands were trembling as, flanked by his personal lawyer, he read a prepared statement that could serve as a clarion call to those who fear being falsely accused by women.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Australian male, probably over 40, seems to be blamed, scapegoated, not believed, and now thrown under the bus, even by our own government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wilson and other party figures are determined to ensure Deeming\u2019s exit from the party does not descend into a gender war. Aside from levelling unsubstantiated criminal allegations against a fellow Liberal MP, Deeming only sporadically attends party room meetings and has recently been absent from upper house votes relating to important legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just rolls in and everyone is too terrified to take her on because of her litigious nature,\u201d an MP said.<\/p>\n

Deeming, a trans-sceptical feminist, first came to prominence in March 2023 for attending a Let Women Speak rally on the steps of the Victorian parliament<\/a> gate-crashed by neo-Nazis.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Moira<\/a><\/p>\n

The day after the rally, the then leadership team of John Pesutto, Georgie Crozier, David Southwick and Matt Bach met in the leader\u2019s office to decide what to do about Deeming. One of their concerns, which has turned out to be prophetic, was that if nothing were done, Deeming would \u201cblow up\u201d the party months before the 2026 election.<\/p>\n

Instead, their decision to suspend Deeming from the party room on flimsy evidence of wrongdoing poisoned Pesutto\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

If disciplinary action is required against Deeming, it will be run through the administrative committee chaired by Loughnane. Any MP found to have brought the party into disrepute can be suspended or expelled from the party.<\/p>\n

A complicating factor in any proceedings against Deeming is that some members of the committee are currently suing others<\/a> over the use of party funds to cover the legal costs Pesutto owed Deeming from their defamation case.<\/p>\n

That matter remains before the Supreme Court even though the former lead plaintiff, Colleen Harkin, last week quit the Liberal Party to join One Nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite speculation that Deeming may also join One Nation, leader Pauline Hanson<\/a> has expressed no interest in recruiting her.<\/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

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\"ChipChip Le Grand<\/a> leads our state politics reporting team. He previously served as the paper\u2019s chief reporter and is a journalist of 30 years\u2019 experience.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-761423","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\/761423","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=761423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}