![\"Victorian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8e6f7a8ebfc8125df74b7fcd27107b64.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThe Victorian Coalition\u2019s hopes of defeating the Allan Labor government have been handed a blow thanks to an assault accusation levelled by upper house Liberal MP Moira Deeming.<\/p>\n
The office of Opposition Leader Jess Wilson was in damage control on Thursday after it emerged Ms Deeming had filed a police report accusing shadow public transport minister Matthew Guy of physically assaulting her.<\/p>\n
Mr Guy has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and Sky News host Andrew Bolt said on Thursday that CCTV footage which has emerged of the incident made it \u201chard to understand\u201d why the accusation had been made.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems to me a joke, Deeming leaning towards Guy at a noisy dinner dance, Guy also leaning in to talk and for a couple of seconds putting his hand on her shoulder,\u201d the Sky News host said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, what on earth. Going to police for that less than five months before a make-or-break election.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting the whole Liberal campaign at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bolt said it almost appeared the Victorian Liberals \u201chave a death wish\u201d.<\/p>\n
The incident is alleged to have occurred on May 23 at the Macedonian Orthodox Youth of Australia 20th anniversary gala dinner, held at a reception centre in Melbourne\u2019s western suburbs.<\/p>\n
It was reported to police on June 16, with investigators on Thursday night confirming “there was no offence detected”.<\/p>\n
“Police have concluded an investigation following reports of an assault at a function venue on Sommerville Road in Sunshine West on 23 May,” authorities said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“Following a thorough investigation, it has been determined there was no offence detected.<\/p>\n
“Investigators have engaged with the woman who made the report.”<\/p>\n
CCTV footage, seen by SkyNews.com.au, shows Mr Guy seated at a table with Ms Deeming and her staffer while the majority of the attendees are on the dance floor.<\/p>\n
At one point, Mr Guy can be seen leaning towards Ms Deeming, who is also leaning in. The shadow transport minister then appears to put his hand on the back of her shoulder and\/or neck to bring her closer.<\/p>\n
Seated between the pair is Ms Deeming\u2019s male staffer, who had moved his chair slightly backward during the alleged incident.<\/p>\n
Immediately after appearing to speak to Ms Deeming, Mr Guy appears to put his hand on the staffer’s shoulder to speak to him.<\/p>\n
Moira Deeming\u2019s accusation <\/p>\n
In messages sent by Ms Deeming, and obtained by The Australian, the Liberal MP said Mr Guy had put her in \u201csome kind of head lock\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few weeks ago, at a community event, I couldn\u2019t hear something Matt Guy was saying at a table we were seated at. Seated between Guy and myself, was my staffer,\u201d Ms Deeming wrote.<\/p>\n
“I couldn\u2019t hear him a second time, so I leaned further in and said: \u2018I\u2019m sorry Matthew, just one more time I couldn\u2019t hear\u2019, and I turned my face away to put my ear as close as I could to the direction of his voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuddenly I felt like someone smashed me in the base of my skull with a wine bottle \u2013 but it was Matthew Guy grabbing me violently in some kind of head lock.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t let me go. He held on the side of my face and had his whole arm round my head and was pulling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I was going to be ripped off my chair and have my face smashed into (my staffer\u2019s) lap or the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Deeming said she had tried to pull away from Mr Guy\u2019s grip as her staffer \u201cwhipped his chair back immediately\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Guy held me there even though he could feel me pulling away \u2013 until he said what I hadn\u2019t heard which was something about \u2018what I said was this is the world\u2019s longest song\u2019 and then he just let me go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in total shock.<\/p>\n
“I sat up and said nothing. I remember feeling humiliated and threatened and degraded. I fixed my hair up and just looked ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked (the staffer) to finish the post he was doing for the event and then said I\u2019d like to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Western Metropolitan MP said during the car ride home her staffer repeatedly remarked \u201chow violent\u201d Mr Guy\u2019s physical interaction was.<\/p>\n
Ms Deeming\u2019s husband also jumped to his wife\u2019s defence on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a man – I would never grab a woman by the back of the neck,\u201d Andrew Deeming wrote on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a manager – if a male staff member grabbed a female staff member by the neck, she wouldn\u2019t need to tell me twice or even go to the police, because he\u2019d be gone by the end of the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as a husband – keep your f***ing hands off my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Criticism from fellow Liberals <\/p>\n
Other Liberals, though, have jumped to the defence of Mr Guy, branding the accusation \u201ccompletely fictitious\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m desperately upset for Matthew\u2026 He is the victim in this,\u201d one MP told The Age.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoira Deeming has accused Matthew of violently and viciously attacking her, putting her in a headlock at a Macedonian function. The CCTV footage shows the complete opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veteran Liberal strategist and public relations expert Kristy McSweeney also criticised Ms Deeming for making the allegation, telling Sky News Australia it appeared to be a \u201csignificant overreach\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have all seen the footage at this point,” Ms McSweeney said.<\/p>\n
“It’s really, really disappointing that an MP feels that she has to put her own grievance – or whatever motivation she has for doing this – above the electoral unity of the party… five months out from an election.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow everybody has to operate within the remit of their own integrity, so they can sleep at night.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut\u2026 it is very disappointing for me, as a conservative woman, to see somebody make allegations against a man that, on the face of it, appear a significant overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The political strategist said this was particularly the case given Ms Deeming’s platform was women’s rights and a voice for other conservative women.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there’s one thing that we like to stand up for, it is that women and men can operate in workplaces together safely,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllegations\u2026 have to be investigated absolutely, but some of this overreach that occurs, for whatever reason, is not doing women any favours at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said the matter was with Victoria Police.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be inappropriate for me to comment further,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike every other Victorian, the parties involved deserve due process, the presumption of innocence and their privacy respected while this is investigated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remain focused on issues that matter to Victorians and earning their trust so our state can have a fresh start in November.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Victorian Coalition\u2019s hopes of defeating the Allan Labor government have been handed a blow thanks to an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2311,2304,22,21,156,2309,31638,2310,149,68],"class_list":["post-38473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-allan","tag-assault","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-labor","tag-liberal","tag-matthew-guy","tag-moira-deeming","tag-politics","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}