An incredible secret recording of four Victorian Liberal leaders ganging up on Moira Deeming was played yesterday in the Federal Court. 

Deeming is suing the Victorian Liberal leader for defamation after he smeared her as a Nazi-sympathizer for speaking at a rally where men in black crashed in and made the Nazi salute.

Deputy Leader David Southwick secretly recorded the meeting in which he was also present and putting pressure on Moira. Georgie Crozier and Matt Bach also ganged up on Deeming, the newly elected member for the Western metropolitan region. 

Prominent defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC played and commented on the recording throughout Tuesday’s hearing.

The recording begins with Mr Pesutto explaining his ambition to broaden the appeal and claiming Ms Deeming’s presence at the Let Women Speak rally had created a “very serious” problem for the opposition.

“There’s this very concerning perception out there that we are associated with Nazis,” Mr Pesutto said.

“It's very serious for us, and the damage it will do to us is hard to estimate.

“It’s going to be toxic for us.”

While agreeing the protests were a problem for the party, Ms Deeming said claims of Nazi links would only cause the damage Mr Pesutto was talking about if he did not “come out and shut it down and say it’s ridiculous”.

Of course Pesutto refused to defend Moira or reject the absurd claims that she was somehow associated with the uninvited Nazis who crashed their event. 

Ms Deeming said she had no idea the group were even at the rally until police arrested them because they were wearing black and no insignia.

“Are you accusing me of actual Nazi links?” Ms Deeming is heard asking Mr Pesutto.

“Very obviously, I am not a Nazi, and I don’t support Nazis.”

“My uncle was a Holocaust survivor. My husband's got Jewish people in his family, I'm part Maori. It's so insane to even worry about.”

The four then blind-sided her with false accusations that organisers Kellie-Jay Keen and Angie Jones were Nazi-sympathizers. These outrageous claims have since been exposed as utterly false and Pesutto has been forced to settle out of court with both women he smeared with the serious allegations. 

He insisted his issue was with the Nazi links yet throughout the seventy-minute ordeal Pesutto, Southwick, Crozier and Bach repeatedly confused the issue with her stance on women and girls’ sex-based rights.

The meeting became tense at times, with the Liberal’s upper house leader Georgie Crozier stating she was “beyond furious” and now ex-Liberal MP Matt Bach telling Ms Deeming he did not think there was a way forward because the people associated with the Let Women Speak rally were “your people”.

Ms Chrysanthou frequently paused the recording to outline what she believed was occurring.

The prominent barrister accused Mr Pesutto of “speaking with a forked tongue”, pointing out the discussion repeatedly jumped between the Nazi issue and Ms Deeming’s views about women’s rights.

The leadership team pointed to tweets from Ms Keen and Ms Jones, claiming they were “offensive to the LGBT community”.

When Ms Deeming disputed their interpretation of the tweets, the leadership team claimed that was how the public would interpret it and they would now think the Liberal Party hates the LGBT community.

Again interrupting the recording, Ms Chrysanthou told the court that her client was being subjected to a “shocking” and “prolonged” attack.

“It’s a form of what young people call gaslighting,” she said. “They bullied her.”

Listening to the recording, the vitriol and aggression expressed by the four was obvious, while Deeming remained professional, open and at times downright confused by their ridiculous claims.

Anyone listening to the recording can clearly hear their disdain for women’s sex-based rights and those who speak up about them. They claim Liberal voters are not interested in such issues. 

During the meeting, Moira was presented with two alternatives; she could either resign voluntarily or steps would be taken to expel her from the parliamentary party.