Ousted Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has won her defamation case against the state's opposition leader John Pesutto and now expects to rejoin the party. Mr Pesutto failed in in his bid to have Ms Deeming booted from the parliamentary Liberal Party and she was instead suspended for nine months.
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00:00Exiled Liberal MP Moira Deeming says she feels vindicated and delighted after a federal court
00:07judge found that her former boss, John Pesuto, did defame her as a Nazi sympathiser in the
00:13wake of an anti-trans rights rally on the steps of Victorian parliament last year that
00:17was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
00:20Now in handing down his findings today, Justice David O'Callaghan said that Mr Pesuto defamed
00:25Ms Deeming in five separate publications, including radio and TV interviews, where he
00:30said Mr Pesuto conveyed that Ms Deeming had knowingly associated or sympathised with neo-Nazis
00:36causing serious damage to her reputation.
00:40He rejected Mr Pesuto's defences of public interest, honest opinion and contextual truth,
00:45saying that those defences either failed or did not arise, and in doing so he ordered
00:50that Ms Deeming be awarded $300,000 in damages.
00:54Now today, Ms Deeming held a press conference in the gardens of Victorian parliament where
00:58she reflected on her victory.
01:00She was asked about whether or not she believes John Pesuto should stand down as leader.
01:04She also said that she would like to return to the Liberal Party.
01:09I don't think that he's proven himself trustworthy, so it's not up to me to make that kind of
01:14call.
01:15This should not have come to this.
01:16I should not have had to go to court.
01:22This could have all been avoided.
01:25I don't understand the decisions that were made that led to this outcome.
01:29I had no other way to defend myself and to have these things retracted.
01:34Now this judgement has cast doubt on the future of John Pesuto's leadership.
01:38The motion to expel Ms Deeming last year divided the party from the start, with many people,
01:43particularly those within the more conservative wing of the party, backing Ms Deeming and
01:47saying that she shouldn't be expelled.
01:49This case overall, not just the verdict itself, has been incredibly damaging.
01:53It's exposed a lot of the fractures and divisions within Victoria's Liberal Party.
01:57We saw the airing of two secret recordings made by MPs.
02:00We also saw several Liberal MPs forced to give evidence both for Ms Deeming and Mr Pesuto.
02:06The question now is whether or not those within the party believe that John Pesuto should
02:11stay on as leader.
02:12Today we heard from former Victorian Premier Geoff Kennett who urged the Liberal Party
02:16to back Mr Pesuto.
02:18He said that Mr Pesuto was only representing party views.
02:21He also says that this will now be a test for the entire Liberal Party.
02:25In the coming days, another court hearing will be scheduled to decide how much legal
02:29costs will be and who will foot that bill.