{"id":804057,"date":"2026-07-16T14:01:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T14:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804057\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T14:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T14:01:17","slug":"liberals-set-to-dump-moira-deeming-as-candidate-after-court-challenge-backdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804057\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberals set to dump Moira Deeming as candidate after court challenge backdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Chip Le Grand\" data-testid=\"author-avatar-image\" height=\"64\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769604731_880_c933d487c0923e425b125b59fa4140f217688025.png\"  width=\"64\" class=\"sc-9a01536c-0 libeSR\"\/>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p>AAA<\/p>\n<p>The Victorian Liberal Party will move to dump Moira Deeming as a candidate at the November state election on Friday after the western suburbs MP abandoned legal action restraining it from disendorsing her.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court of Victoria announced on Thursday that Deeming had discontinued proceedings she initiated two weeks ago to prevent the Liberal Party\u2019s state executive from meeting to rescind her candidacy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Moira Deeming is expected to be dumped as a Liberal candidate for the state election when the party meets to decide her fate on Friday.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2bde88316bf6de20110dc614d256768952cb921c.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ldCIuB\"\/>Moira Deeming is expected to be dumped as a Liberal candidate for the state election when the party meets to decide her fate on Friday.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n<p>The party called the meeting for 5.30pm on Friday after Deeming refused to apologise for making an unsubstantiated headlock allegation against former state leader Matthew Guy.<\/p>\n<p>Deeming, in a complaint to Opposition Leader Jess Wilson\u2019s office and shared with colleagues, accused Guy of placing her in a violent headlock while the MPs were seated at a Macedonian community function on May 23.<\/p>\n<p>Deeming also provided a statement to Victoria Police.<\/p>\n<p>Victoria Police decided not to charge Guy after viewing CCTV footage of the episode \u2013 published by this masthead \u2013 that showed Guy momentarily placing a hand on Deeming\u2019s shoulder while the pair were engaged in conversation in the middle of a noisy public function.<\/p>\n<p>Victoria Police, in a letter sent to Deeming\u2019s lawyer, Tim Houweling, earlier this week, confirmed their decision not to charge Guy.<\/p>\n<p>Deeming\u2019s decision to abandon her legal proceedings \u2013 and lift an injunction against the party meeting to determine her political fate \u2013 follows a flurry of correspondence sent by Deeming to the state executive and posted on social media arguing her case to remain as a Liberal candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Deeming has not offered an apology to Guy or for the political damage her allegations have done to the party four months before a state election.<\/p>\n<p>Related Article<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/politics\/victoria\/they-are-finished-with-her-moira-deeming-and-liberals-poised-to-part-ways-20260626-p60af7.html\" tabindex=\"-1\" class=\"sc-cba76dee-0 hdiTqm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Victorian Liberal Party is expected to sever ties with MP Moira Deeming\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782709638_663_81b877b71d272b4367ea71f6ef0d113ada8df40d.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ioInpc\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Deeming withdrew her allegation that Guy put her in a headlock but insists she was \u201cgrabbed, held and pulled down with force that caused me pain and distress\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>A senior party source said the state executive would meet at 5.30pm on Friday to consider Deeming\u2019s candidacy. Although party rules require a three-quarters majority to disendorse a candidate, Deeming has exhausted what support she previously had on the party\u2019s governing board.<\/p>\n<p>Deeming was preselected three months ago to stand as the party\u2019s No.1 candidate for the Western Metropolitan Region in a shambolic process punctuated by revelations that the party\u2019s preferred candidate Dinesh Gourisetty provided a character reference to a convicted child sex offender.<\/p>\n<p>While that episode appeared to elongate Deeming\u2019s political career, Deeming\u2019s allegation against Guy eroded any goodwill she had from colleagues and the backing she previously enjoyed from influential conservative figures such as Sky News broadcaster Peta Credlin.<\/p>\n<p>Credlin\u2019s husband, Brian Loughnane, is the state president of the Liberal Party, the chair of the state executive and, until Thursday, was the first-named respondent in Deeming\u2019s legal action against her own party.<\/p>\n<p>Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. <a class=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/newsletter-signup?newsletter=am&amp;utm_source=EditorialArticle&amp;utm_medium=ArticleText&amp;utm_campaign=Newsletters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 JmUoF\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 jyLmZI iQLtAb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Chip Le Grand\" data-testid=\"author-avatar-image\" height=\"40\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c933d487c0923e425b125b59fa4140f217688025.png\"  width=\"40\" class=\"sc-9a01536c-0 libeSR\"\/><a class=\"sc-cba76dee-0 hdiTqm sc-b5b9fd03-2 jcGta-D\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/by\/chip-le-grand-p4yvib\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chip 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 <a class=\"sc-cba76dee-0 hdiTqm sc-b5b9fd03-5 czsZcI\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/politics\/victoria\/mailto:chip.legrand@theage.com.au\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">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&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-804057","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\/804057","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=804057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}