Australia has today won a major victory for free speech and the rights of women and children.

Former Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has won her defamation case against Victoria Liberal Party leader John Persutto, with the judge awarding Deeming $300,000 in damages.

Deeming was forced to defend herself against attacks from within her own party after she attended the women’s rights event Let Women Speak in March 2023..

The event, a rally supporting women and pushing back against transgender ideology, was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis, prompting Victorian Liberal Party leader John Pesutto to publicly associate her with the gatecrashers and imply she was sympathising with neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

Ms Deeming argued that Pesutto’s comments were defamatory and caused “serious harm” to her reputation, an argument that Justice David O’Callaghan accepted.

The court found that Mr Pesutto’s comments:

… carried the imputation Deeming was unfit to belong in the Victorian parliamentary Liberal Party because she knowingly associates with neo-Nazis.

But it was clear to many observers that her suspension from the party was for political reasons. As one commentator put it: 

To Pesutto, Deeming’s real crime is not that she was at a rally gatecrashed by neo-Nazis but that she’s a conservative. That’s why he wanted her gone.

The suspension of Deeming from the party prompted criticisms and questions about freedom of religion within the Victorian Liberal party. 

This was highlighted by the comments of a Liberal Party insider, who told the media:

If you’re joining the Liberal Party to implement regressive politics such as repealing abortion or turning back voluntary assisted dying, it’s not the party for you.

Far from being a ‘broad church’ of differing ideas and beliefs, these comments reflect a political culture in the Party that is committed to shutting out views that do not align with a narrow progressive ideology.

Deeming’s court win serves as a reminder that all Australians, regardless of faith, beliefs, or political party, should enjoy the freedom to speak truth without fear of being punished in their workplace or publicly defamed.

This case should be a wake-up call to the Victorian Liberals. Rather than pushing out Christians and conservatives, the Party should realign its principles it once stood for and welcome back the people it once represented.

Despite Ms Deeming’s win, speaking the truth too often comes with great cost for ordinary Australians.

Breastfeeding consultant Jasmine Sussex is facing the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for stating that men can’t breastfeed, while Canadian activist ‘Billboard Chris’ has had to appeal a censorship order for voicing his concerns on gender ideology. 

Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Jillian Spencer was removed from her position at Queensland Children’s Hospital after she spoke up against the automatic affirmation model of treatment for children with gender confusion in Queensland.

But Ms Deeming had words of defiance for all others facing hostility for their beliefs:

Those of us in this fight to restore parental rights, sex-based rights for women, and safeguards for children, we are in every political party, we are in every union, every family. We will never run out of energy. We will never be crushed.