Liberal Party federal president Tony Abbott has backed the Victorian division’s decision to disendorse Moira Deeming, saying her refusal to apologise for making unsubstantiated assault allegations was “unbecoming of an MP”.
The Liberal Party’s state executive – including Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, state president Brian Loughnane and federal frontbencher James Paterson – unanimously voted on Friday night to revoke Ms Deeming’s preselection.
Mr Abbott, who only four months ago urged Victorian branch members to preselect Ms Deeming, said the party made the right decision.
“I’m sorry it’s come to this but I fully support Brian Loughnane and the Victorian Liberal Party’s disendorsement of Moira Deeming,” Mr Abbott told The Australian. “When a serious accusation is not backed up by the available objective evidence, the accuser should apologise and withdraw.
“Moira’s refusal to do so was unbecoming of an MP.
“Under such circumstances, she couldn’t remain an endorsed Liberal candidate.”
Mr Abbott said he wished Ms Deeming and her family well “but Victorian Liberals must now focus on saving the state from the worst government in its history”.
Ms Deeming’s disendorsement followed her refusal to apologise to former Liberal leader Matthew Guy over assault allegations she made against him that police were unable to substantiate.
She then launched legal action against Mr Loughnane and the party challenging the disendorsement process, but withdrew the case on Thursday.
Ms Deeming at the weekend took to social media to say that she never refused to apologise.
“I refused to say I made a false police complaint or that I defamed Matthew Guy,” she said.
Campaigning in the Labor-held seat of Macedon on Saturday, Ms Wilson said she hadn’t spoken to Ms Deeming since the vote.
She also confirmed the party had no plans to expel the MP from the partyroom heading into the November election.
“We’ve only got four weeks left of parliament, and we’re not going to waste a minute,” she said.
“I’m on the ground listening to Victorians because I know that they think this state is broken, the very soul of Victoria is being destroyed by Jacinta Allan and her Labor government.
“The decision made by the state executive … is the right decision, it was a unanimous decision by the state executive.
“I appreciate why you’re interested in this, but I have spent the last 28 days continuously out and around Victoria… and voters are focused on that they don’t feel safe in their homes.”
Minutes after the Victorian Liberal state executive’s decision on Friday, Newcastle-based property developer Hilton Grugeon released a statement, confirming he that he would be commencing Federal Court action to recoup $1.55m owed to him, in a move he stressed “should not be understood as in any way hostile to Ms Deeming”.
Mr Grugeon detailed the background to Ms Deeming’s debt, namely that it arose after the Federal Court ordered former opposition leader John Pesutto to pay her $2.3m in legal costs after he lost the defamation case she had brought against him.
The Liberal Party loaned Mr Pesutto $1.55m in a bid to prevent him from becoming bankrupt and triggering a potentially risky by-election in his seat of Hawthorn.
Anthony GallowayVictorian political editor