{"id":53656,"date":"2026-07-19T09:38:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/53656\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T09:38:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:38:36","slug":"tony-abbott-backs-moira-deeming-dumping-from-victorian-liberals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/53656\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Abbott backs Moira Deeming dumping from Victorian Liberals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liberal Party federal president Tony Abbott has backed the Victorian division\u2019s decision to dis\u00adendorse<\/a> Moira Deeming, saying her refusal to apologise for making unsubstantiated assault allegations was \u201cunbecoming of an MP\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Liberal Party\u2019s state executive \u2013 including Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson<\/a>, state president Brian Loughnane and federal frontbencher James Paterson \u2013 unanimously voted on Friday night to revoke Ms Deeming\u2019s preselection.<\/p>\n

Mr Abbott, who only four months ago urged Victorian branch members to preselect Ms Deeming, said the party made the right decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry it\u2019s come to this but I fully support Brian Loughnane and the Victorian Liberal Party\u2019s disendorsement of Moira Deeming,\u201d Mr Abbott told The Australian. \u201cWhen a serious accusation is not backed up by the available \u00adobjective evidence, the accuser should apologise and withdraw. <\/p>\n

\u201cMoira\u2019s refusal to do so was unbecoming of an MP. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnder such circumstances, she couldn\u2019t remain an endorsed Liberal candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Abbott said he wished Ms Deeming and her family well \u201cbut Victorian Liberals must now focus on saving the state from the worst government in its history\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Deeming\u2019s disendorsement followed her refusal to apologise to former Liberal leader Matthew Guy over assault allegations <\/a>she made against him that police were unable to substantiate. <\/p>\n

She then launched legal action against Mr Loughnane and the party challenging the disendorsement process, but withdrew the case on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Ms Deeming at the weekend took to social media to say that she never refused to apologise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI refused to say I made a false police complaint or that I defamed Matthew Guy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

Campaigning in the Labor-held seat of Macedon on Saturday, Ms Wilson said she hadn\u2019t spoken to Ms Deeming since the vote.<\/p>\n

She also confirmed the party had no plans to expel the MP from the partyroom heading into the November election.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only got four weeks left of parliament, and we\u2019re not going to waste a minute,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 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.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision made by the state executive \u2026 is the right decision, it was a unanimous decision by the state executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate why you\u2019re interested in this, but I have spent the last 28 days continuously out and around Victoria\u2026 and voters are focused on that they don\u2019t feel safe in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minutes after the Victorian Liberal state executive\u2019s decision on Friday, Newcastle-based property developer Hilton Grugeon \u00adreleased a statement<\/a>, confirming he that he would be commencing Federal Court action to recoup $1.55m owed to him, in a move he stressed \u201cshould not be understood as in any way \u00adhostile to Ms Deeming\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Grugeon detailed the background to Ms Deeming\u2019s debt<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/a>Anthony Galloway<\/a>Victorian political editor <\/p>\n

Anthony Galloway is The Australian’s Victorian political editor, having reported on
\nsome of the nation\u2019s biggest security and political stories over the past decade. He was previously foreign affairs and national security correspondent at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, chief political correspondent at Capital Brief and earlier a political reporter at the Herald Sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liberal Party federal president Tony Abbott has backed the Victorian division\u2019s decision to dis\u00adendorse Moira Deeming, saying her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45253,37747,45251,45272,45248,37710,45285,39152,45264,45259,43061,37647,45263,45237,45250,37726,45294,45288,37717,45277,45295,45269,45281,22,21,45234,45273,45244,28568,37676,45247,45260,45283,45257,45296,45266,45245,9715,6847,45292,36694,45236,37659,45235,41851,37707,45243,1646,32587,37697,45279,45262,45233,31638,45238,40844,2310,45242,37621,37719,45258,37664,10820,37714,45278,39448,45271,45289,36518,45280,45255,45290,3218,1047,16821,106,45291,40630,45256,43941,45284,45276,36697,38199,45232,45293,37700,39477,45282,45287,45268,9754,37662,40850,37011,45249,41409,37964,37674,45286,45254,37686,45252,45261,40084,45239,41478,45267,45265,45246,2589,45240,45241,68,45274,32874,45270,45275,1491,12071],"class_list":["post-53656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-debt","tag-s-decision","tag-s-disendorsement","tag-s-preselection-mr-abbott","tag-s-refusal","tag-s-state-executive","tag-1-55m","tag-a-bid","tag-a-community-event","tag-a-false-police-complaint","tag-a-minute","tag-a-move","tag-a-political-toy","tag-a-potentially-risky-by-election","tag-a-serious-accusation","tag-a-statement","tag-a-unanimous-decision","tag-abbott-backs","tag-an-apology","tag-an-endorsed-liberal-candidate","tag-an-mp","tag-any-way-hostile","tag-assault-allegations","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-available-objective-evidence","tag-brian-loughnane","tag-campaigning","tag-conduct","tag-deeming","tag-disendorsement","tag-federal-court-action","tag-federal-frontbencher-james-paterson","tag-former-liberal-leader-matthew-guy","tag-former-mr-guy","tag-former-opposition-leader-john-pesutto","tag-four-weeks","tag-friday","tag-hawthorn","tag-her-2-3m","tag-her-family","tag-her-labor-government","tag-her-refusal","tag-him-the-liberal-party","tag-his-colleague","tag-his-seat","tag-its-history","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-legal-action","tag-legal-costs","tag-liberal-mp-moira-deeming","tag-liberal-party-federal-president-tony-abbott","tag-macedon","tag-matthew-guy","tag-minutes","tag-moira","tag-moira-deeming","tag-mr-abbott","tag-mr-grugeon","tag-mr-guy","tag-mr-loughnane","tag-mr-pesutto","tag-ms","tag-ms-deeming","tag-ms-wilson","tag-my-family","tag-my-reputation","tag-newcastle-based-property-developer-hilton-grugeon","tag-night","tag-no-plans","tag-only-four-months","tag-opposition-leader-matthew-guy","tag-parliament","tag-police","tag-saturday","tag-social-media","tag-state-president-brian-loughnane","tag-such-circumstances","tag-the-accuser","tag-the-australian","tag-the-available-objective-evidence","tag-the-background","tag-the-case","tag-the-decision","tag-the-defamation-case","tag-the-disendorsement-process","tag-the-federal-court","tag-the-ground","tag-the-labor-held-seat","tag-the-last-28-days","tag-the-liberal-federal-president","tag-the-liberal-party","tag-the-mp","tag-the-november-election","tag-the-party","tag-the-partyroom","tag-the-right-decision","tag-the-state","tag-the-state-executive","tag-the-very-soul","tag-the-victorian-division","tag-the-victorian-liberal-party","tag-the-victorian-liberal-state-executive","tag-the-vote-she","tag-the-weekend","tag-the-worst-government","tag-their-homes","tag-this-state","tag-those-apologies","tag-thursday-ms","tag-tony-abbott","tag-unbecoming","tag-unsubstantiated-assault-allegations","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-branch-members","tag-victorian-liberals","tag-victorian-opposition-leader-jess-wilson","tag-victorians","tag-voters","tag-wrongdoing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53656","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=53656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}