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The Victorian Liberal Party is preparing to strip Moira Deeming of her endorsement ahead of November’s state election, in the latest chapter of the long-running controversy surrounding the MP.

Party leaders are expected to move to revoke Deeming’s preselection for the Western Metropolitan Region after she refused to issue an unqualified apology to former Liberal leader Matthew Guy over allegations that he assaulted her at a community event last month. Victoria Police later closed its investigation after reviewing CCTV footage, finding “no offence detected”.

Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson had initially agreed to meet with Deeming, but Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury confirmed that meeting would no longer proceed.

“A request was made for her to make an unqualified apology. She has refused to do that. Further action, therefore, needs to occur, and the party is working on that now,” Newbury told media.

The move would leave Deeming’s political future uncertain just months before Victorians head to the polls on 28 November.

Deeming had alleged Guy placed her in a headlock during a Macedonian community event in May, but police reviewed the CCTV footage of the alleged assault, and quickly dismissed her complaint.

While she later acknowledged she had misunderstood the technical meaning of the term “headlock”, she has maintained that the interaction was physically painful and has declined to apologise.

Guy has vehemently denied the assault, and at an emotional press conference, demanded an apology. The former party leader has also voiced his intention to bring in defamation lawyers.

Moira Deeming’s return followed years of internal party conflict

The latest dispute comes after years of internal conflict within the Victorian Liberal Party centred on Deeming.

She was suspended from the parliamentary Liberal Party in 2023 after attending and speaking at Melbourne’s controversial Let Women Speak rally outside Victorian Parliament.

The rally, organised alongside British anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, drew widespread condemnation after members of the National Socialist Network appeared on the steps of Parliament House performing Nazi salutes while holding far-right banners.

The images sparked national outrage and prompted then-Opposition Leader John Pesutto to move to expel Deeming from the party.

Deeming consistently denied any association with the neo-Nazi group, saying they were not invited to the event and condemning their presence. She later successfully sued Pesutto for defamation after he publicly suggested she had associated with far-right extremists at the rally.

Following that victory, she was readmitted to the Liberal party room in late 2024.

The Liberal Party’s state executive will now need 3–5 days to vote on whether to remove Deeming as the Liberals’ top candidate for the Western Metropolitan Region on election ballot this coming Novmber.

17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø contacted Moira Deeming for comment, but did not receive a response by time of publication.