Liberal MP complaint referred to anti-corruption body

Perth Now

a day ago

A Liberal MP has been referred to an anti-corruption body over an offer that could have deferred a former party's whopping legal bill in exchange for guaranteed preselection.
A member of the public made a complaint about Victorian Liberal Moira Deeming to the state's Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) after reports of the proposed deal, which fell over.
Anyone can make a referral to IBAC but that does do not automatically trigger a full investigation, with the body aiming to assess all complaints within 45 days.
Former Liberal leader John Pesutto owes $2.3 million in legal costs to Mrs Deeming after the Federal Court found he defamed her by implying she was associated with neo-Nazis who gatecrashed a Melbourne rally she attended in 2023.
Mr Pesutto faces bankruptcy and a forced exit from parliament unless the money is paid or a payment plan sorted out within weeks.
On Wednesday, a member of the public who said he was "frankly outraged" by the reports of the proposed deal emailed Liberal MPs to notify them he had referred the matter to the corruption body.
"If it takes people like me - outsiders - to initiate this kind of action and help uphold the standards of integrity that all political parties should meet, then I will continue to do so without hesitation," he wrote in the email, obtained by AAP.
The man who made the complaint told AAP he is not a member of the Liberal Party but had been a member of three other political parties in the past.
On Sunday, Mrs Deeming wrote to Mr Pesutto, his successor Brad Battin and Victorian Liberal president Philip Davis with a series of demands that would spare Mr Pesutto bankruptcy and see her endorsed for pre-selection ahead of the November 2026 election.
In the letter, she said she was "dismayed" the Liberal Party was considering a request the state party assist Mr Pesutto meet his financial obligations to her.
"It is because of the extraordinary support that I have received from rank-and-file members that I make this offer with the intention that the funds they have raised to fight the Labor Party remain solely directed to that important objective," she wrote.
She demanded Mr Pesutto pay the roughly $760,000 he has raised so far, while the rest of the debt would be put on ice until 2027.
Mrs Deeming's other requests included that the party release an unreserved apology to her.
"I have suffered through a gruelling two and half years where almost every offer I made to negotiate a settlement was rejected," she wrote.
"This is my final attempt to spare the Liberal Party further harm and to afford Mr Pesutto, and his family, the dignity that was denied to me, my husband and my children."
A special resolution would have had to be passed to endorse preselection for her upper house seat.
Traditionally, Liberal preselection is finalised through a vote of rank-and-file members.
Mrs Deeming has been contacted for comment.