{"id":60685,"date":"2026-07-29T06:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/60685\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T06:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:10:21","slug":"moira-deeming-quits-victorian-liberal-party-joins-crossbench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/60685\/","title":{"rendered":"Moira Deeming quits Victorian Liberal Party, joins crossbench"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moira Deeming has quit the parliamentary Liberal Party and will sit on the crossbench as an independent, putting an end to her MP\u2019s tumultuous relationship with the party.<\/p>\n

Ms Deeming\u2019s resignation comes after the state executive earlier this month voted unanimously to disendorse her<\/a> after she refused to apologise for making assault allegations against former leader Matthew Guy that were dismissed by police.<\/p>\n

Ms Deeming handed in her \u00adretirement notice during a chaotic day at Victorian parliament on Tuesday, with Opposition Leader Jess Wilson issuing a statement about 20 minutes after it was announced Ben Carroll would become Victoria\u2019s new Premier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning I received the resignation from the parliamentary Liberal Party from Moira Deeming,\u201d Ms Wilson said.<\/p>\n

Ms Deeming in a statement on social media confirmed her \u00adresignation and said she would sit\u00a0on the crossbench as an \u00adindependent. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus has always been, and will continue to be, on representing the needs and concerns of everyday Australians,\u201d Ms Deeming said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was elected to fight for freedom, fair laws, and families.\u201d<\/p>\n

She thanked her supporters and said she was committed to getting rid of the Labor government.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo save our state from \u00adendemic corruption, crushing debt and the rising crime crisis, Labor has got to go. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remain fully committed to seeing that through,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Deeming was elected to the upper house for the Western Metropolitan Region in 2022. <\/p>\n

She was expelled from the \u00adVictorian Liberal partyroom in 2023 but readmitted in 2024 after she had successfully sued the party\u2019s former leader<\/a>, John Pesutto, for defamation in the Federal Court. <\/p>\n

The loss ultimately cost Mr Pesutto the leadership.<\/p>\n

Ms Deeming again hit the headlines in March this year after Indian community leader Dinesh Gourisetty beat her for the top spot on the Liberals\u2019 Western Metropolitan ticket in a preselection \u00adbattle.<\/p>\n

She was quickly returned to the top position on the upper house ticket, however, after it emerged Mr Gourisetty had provided a character reference for a friend convicted of child sex offences.<\/p>\n

Ms Deeming was subsequently disendorsed last month after she defied Ms Wilson by \u00adrefusing to apologise for making allegations of \u00adassault against fellow MP Mr Guy.<\/p>\n

She launched legal action <\/a>in the Supreme Court against Liberal state president Brian Loughnane and the party, challenging their disendorsement process, but subsequently she discontinued it. <\/p>\n

Ms Deeming remains en\u00adtangled in a separate Supreme Court action brought by a group of members and former members of the Liberal state executive against the party regarding its decision to loan Mr\u00a0Pesutto $1.55m to enable him to pay legal costs owed to Ms Deeming.<\/p>\n

\"Lily<\/a><\/p>\n

Lily McCaffrey is a reporter in The Australian’s Melbourne bureau. You can email her at lily.mccaffrey@news.com.au<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moira Deeming has quit the parliamentary Liberal Party and will sit on the crossbench as an independent, putting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[68855,51147,68858,68875,68870,68863,45285,32730,38039,17327,68850,68852,36695,36507,68838,68853,37726,68856,8006,48422,38777,2304,45281,22,21,12688,68869,68867,37676,26035,39751,68874,53925,68837,18571,68839,68836,22612,68851,68835,68854,68859,68848,68843,36462,156,36872,32587,37697,68842,36888,68847,2310,68876,37664,37714,45278,68866,62163,5843,68877,68845,106,68860,47734,68865,37700,38748,68841,9754,68849,42123,68857,68862,37011,68872,68873,37674,38234,68871,68868,68844,68864,37694,68861,37242,39096,36985,68,31808,68846,68840],"class_list":["post-60685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-endemic-corruption","tag-the-loss","tag-s-former-leader","tag-s-new-premier","tag-s-resignation","tag-s-tumultuous-relationship","tag-1-55m","tag-32730","tag-38039","tag-17327","tag-a-chaotic-day","tag-a-character-reference","tag-a-friend","tag-a-group","tag-a-preselection-battle-she","tag-a-separate-supreme-court-action","tag-a-statement","tag-about-20-minutes","tag-allegations","tag-an-end","tag-an-independent","tag-assault","tag-assault-allegations","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-ben-carroll","tag-child-sex-offences-ms","tag-crushing-debt","tag-deeming","tag-defamation","tag-earlier-this-month","tag-embattled-mp-moira-deeming","tag-everyday-australians","tag-fair-laws","tag-families","tag-fellow-mp-mr-guy-she","tag-former-leader-matthew-guy","tag-freedom","tag-her-resignation","tag-her-retirement-notice","tag-her-mp","tag-her-supporters","tag-indian-community-leader-dinesh-gourisetty","tag-its-decision","tag-john-pesutto","tag-labor","tag-last-month","tag-legal-action","tag-legal-costs","tag-liberal-state-president-brian-loughnane","tag-march","tag-members-and-former-members","tag-moira-deeming","tag-mr-gourisetty","tag-mr-pesutto","tag-ms-deeming","tag-ms-wilson","tag-ms-wilson-said-ms","tag-my-focus","tag-opposition-leader-jess-wilson","tag-our-state","tag-police-ms-deeming","tag-social-media","tag-the-victorian-liberal-partyroom","tag-the-headlines","tag-the-crossbench","tag-the-federal-court","tag-the-labor-government","tag-the-leadership-ms-deeming","tag-the-liberal-party","tag-the-liberal-state-executive","tag-the-liberals","tag-the-needs-and-concerns","tag-the-parliamentary-liberal-party","tag-the-party","tag-the-resignation","tag-the-rising-crime-crisis","tag-the-state-executive","tag-the-supreme-court","tag-the-top-position","tag-the-top-spot","tag-the-upper-house","tag-the-upper-house-ticket","tag-the-western-metropolitan-region","tag-their-disendorsement-process","tag-this-morning","tag-this-year","tag-tuesday","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-liberal-party","tag-victorian-parliament","tag-western-metropolitan-ticket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60685","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=60685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}