ANNEXURE B (TRANSCRIPT OF THE ABC INTERVIEW)
ANNEXURE C (TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE)
ANNEXURE D (EXPULSION MOTION AND DOSSIER)
O'CALLAGHAN J
INTRODUCTION
1 The applicant, Mrs Moira Deeming MLC, is a politician. She is a Member of the Victorian Parliament for the Western Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council. She was elected on 26 November 2022.
2 She is a member of the Victorian Liberal Party; and from 26 November 2022 until her expulsion on 12 May 2024, she was a member of the Victorian Parliamentary Liberal Party.
3 The respondent, Mr John Pesutto MP, is also a politician. He is a Member of the Victorian Parliament for the electoral district of Hawthorn in the Legislative Assembly, and was also elected on 26 November 2022. He is a member of the Victorian Liberal Party. And since 8 December 2022, he has been the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Victorian Parliamentary Liberal Party (which I shall also refer to as the party).
4 Mrs Deeming is, and has been for some years, a passionate advocate for the preservation or reinstatement of sex-based rights and safeguards for women and children (such as female only bathrooms and changerooms).
5 On Saturday 18 March 2023, she attended and briefly spoke at a "Let Women Speak" rally on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne, conducted by a UK-based organisation called Standing for Women (SFW). I will refer to this as the LWS rally. SFW was founded by a woman named Ms Kellie-Jay Keen (sometimes also known as Posie Parker) who led the LWS rally.
6 At around the same time, various other protestors gathered to express their views. They included "trans rights" and gender diverse activists, and a group of men in black clothing who were identified as members of the National Socialist Network, and were described as "Nazis" or "neo-Nazis".
7 As a result of what occurred in and around the steps of Parliament House that day, Mr Pesutto put matters in train to have Mrs Deeming expelled from the party, which ultimately occurred.