The Liberal party are loaning him $1.5 million to pay his costs to Moira Deeming

I sincerely cannot understand how stupid the Victorian Liberal party has become. Former leader John Pesutto was clearly found guilty of defaming fellow democratically elected MP Moira Deeming, and yet the party still chose to bail him out.

A $1.5 million loan has been granted to the man who labelled Moira a Nazi and Nazi sympathiser for attending a Let Women Speak rally that was hijacked by Nazi’s. It was a dreadful and false slur that he has since tried to to defend or minimise.

It would have been so simple to admit he was wrong and that women do indeed have a right to stand up and speak for female sex-based rights, and that we are not in any way associated with Nazis. 

Instead, he and the leadership at the time doubled down and made excuses.

Now, unbelievably, the Victorian Liberals have decided to bail him out with a loan that must be repaid at market interest.

The Victorian Liberals’ administrative committee met on Thursday night and agreed to lend former leader John Pesutto $1.55 million to settle his debt to first-term MP Moira Deeming.

The Hawthorn MP was ordered to pay $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.

It left him facing bankruptcy, which would have triggered his exit from parliament and a subsequent by-election in his marginal seat, unless the debt was paid back in a matter of weeks.

Mr Pesutto, who has already coughed up $315,000 in damages, had only raised about $750,000 through wealthy backers and a GoFundMe campaign.

Victorian Liberal president Philip Davis indicated the deal would avert a by-election and stop the ongoing saga.

“Settling this matter once and for all is in the interests of the party as it will see an end to the ongoing commentary that is letting Labor get away with their appalling performance,” he wrote.

“Victorians needs a change of government.”

Mrs Deeming doubts the infighting will end.

“I assume that they will continue with their quest to try to annihilate me,” the upper house MP said.

Mrs Deeming said the party could “do what they like” but she would take any support of Mr Pesutto as a “direct rebukement (sic)“ of the court judgement.

The actions of John Pesutto and the Liberal Party certainly are a slap in the face to women who simply want legal protections in law. 

At present, the federal and state laws include more protections and provisions for males who wish they were women than women. 

Labelling Moira Deeming and women who were at the rally as Nazis, Neo-Nazis or Nazi sympathisers is as terrible and nasty as it gets and is designed to discourage women from attending rallies and speaking out for women’s sex-based rights. 

The Liberal Party should have run a mile from Pesutto, not bail him out.