131 They gave different evidence about what precisely was said, but Mr Southwick and Mrs Deeming did agree that Mr Southwick said that he had seen photos of the Nazis performing the Nazi salute in Spring Street; that the matter was serious; and that Mrs Deeming needed to denounce it in a press release.
132 Mrs Deeming deposed that after her conversation with Mr Southwick, she told Ms Keen about his request. She gave evidence that she asked Ms Keen "if we could find a way to make it clear those men had nothing to do with us in a way that was not degrading and did not deflect the focus from the purpose of the rally." She further deposed that Ms Keen "suggested we could do a livestream where we focused on the women and how brave they had been and what a success the day had been and that we could mention the idiot Nazis in passing as having been unwelcome intruders, but that she would not be issuing a grovelling media statement."
133 After speaking to Mrs Deeming, at 2.55pm Mr Southwick exchanged text messages with Mr Brad Battin MP, then Shadow Police Minister (Ex R182; CC:264). He then spoke to Mr Battin and they agreed to issue a joint statement condemning the Nazis.
134 Mr Southwick then telephoned Mr Woff. They had a brief conversation about a draft press release. At 3.04pm Mr Woff sent a WhatsApp message to Mr Southwick with the draft press release (Ex A138; CC:265), which read:
Todays [sic] incident on the steps of Parliament are a shock to every Victorian who values our inclusive, tolerant and multicultural community.
Right wing extremists are becoming more aggressive and emboldened and despite recent efforts to tighten laws to protect the community from such intolerance, this behaviour continues seemingly without consequence.
This behaviour is simply acceptable [sic]. We cannot allow neo-Nazis to goose step and salute on the front steps of our democracy with impunity.
I have formally raised this issue with Victoria Police for potential breach of anti-discrimination legislation and will continue to push for those involved to be held to account.
135 At 4.41pm, Ms Jones published a post on Twitter which read, "Nazis and women want to get rid of paedo filth. Why don't you?" (the Jones tweet). The Jones tweet was part of an exchange, which read in full:
