Ms Deeming is fighting to\u00a0retain\u00a0the top position on the Liberal Party\u2019s Western Metropolitan Region ticket after controversy surrounding allegations she made against former state leader Matthew Guy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The dispute has become the latest flashpoint in a party,\u00a0with senior Liberals increasingly concerned the saga is overshadowing the Coalition\u2019s campaign against the Allan government.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In messages obtained by colleagues, Ms Deeming acknowledged the impact the dispute was having on the party.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease allow me to tell you how keenly aware I am of the fact this must be negatively impacting you, and I deeply grieve it and regret it,\u201d Mrs Deeming said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am doing my best to fix it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Victorian Liberal launched urgent legal action against party president Brian Loughnane after learning the state executive was preparing to consider her future as a candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The party later informed the court it would not\u00a0proceed\u00a0with the planned meeting while the matter\u00a0remains\u00a0before the judiciary.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The case is due to return to court on July 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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In her messages, Ms Deeming\u00a0indicated\u00a0she hoped the legal action would create enough breathing space for a negotiated resolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may not appear so to you right now, but my actions today were designed to secure the reprieve needed to avoid a slip into\u00a0self destruction, and mediate this out of existence for all our sakes,\u201d she\u00a0allegedly\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am continuing to reach out and seek internal settlement with all involved, even tonight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The controversy stems from a complaint Ms Deeming made to Victoria Police\u00a0regarding\u00a0an interaction with Mr Guy at a gala dinner in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Police reviewed available footage and\u00a0ultimately concluded\u00a0there was \u201cno offence detected\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The finding prompted calls from within the Liberal Party for Ms Deeming to apologise to Mr Guy and withdraw her allegations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Federal Liberal senator Sarah Henderson said this week she was disappointed Ms Deeming had not done so.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m personally disappointed that Moira did not withdraw her police complaint and apologise to Matthew Guy,\u201d Ms Henderson told Sky News.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI really feel for Matthew Guy. The accusations that were made against him were completely unfounded.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms Deeming has continued to reject suggestions she acted improperly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In her message to colleagues, she\u00a0maintained\u00a0she had not deliberately made a false allegation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not above helping the party save\u00a0face\u00a0but it is not true that I made a deliberate or reckless false allegation, and it is not true that I caused anyone to be defamed,\u201d\u00a0the message read.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also reiterated that she only approached police after being advised to do so by party officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, lawyers acting for Ms Deeming made similar arguments,\u00a0stating\u00a0she had followed advice from senior Liberal figures after\u00a0attempts\u00a0to resolve the matter internally failed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lawyers said Ms Deeming believed her complaint was made honestly and in good faith.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The MP also used her messages to argue the party needed stronger internal processes to deal with disputes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms Deeming told colleagues she had become \u201cvery unwell\u201d during the dispute and had\u00a0attempted\u00a0to keep the matter confidential.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The latest developments come less than two years after Ms Deeming successfully sued former Liberal leader John Pesutto for defamation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That legal victory\u00a0ultimately contributed\u00a0to Mr Pesutto losing the party leadership and paved the way for Ms Deeming\u2019s return to the Liberal\u00a0partyroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the support she once enjoyed within sections of the party has weakened significantly following the release of the CCTV footage at the centre of the Matthew Guy dispute.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moira Deeming has told colleagues she \u201cdeeply grieves\u201d the turmoil surrounding her legal fight with the Victorian Liberal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,127355,362681,280741,44,41,39,42,40,660,368707],"class_list":["post-777966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-jess-wilson","tag-matthew-guy","tag-moira-deeming","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-victoria","tag-victoria-liberal-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777966","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=777966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}