Victorian Liberal Leader John Pesutto will move to expel Moira Deeming from the Liberal party after the female MP spoke at the “Let Women Speak” rally over the weekend.
According to the Herald Sun, Pesutto met with Moira Deeming on Sunday where he informed Deeming that her attendance at the rally made her position with the party “untenable.”
The event, which was held by British women’s rights advocate Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull outside the Victorian parliament on Saturday, was crashed by a group of masked men, throwing about the Nazi salute and parading a banner that read, “Destroy Paedo Freaks.”
Deeming, who appeared on stage where she read a letter from a female Muslim friend asking the government to protect women’s rights in Australia, condemned the group, and expressed her disappointment in Victoria Police for allowing the crashers into the rally buffer zone.
“Disappointed with Victoria Police, who let a bunch of masked men into the [Let Women Speak] buffer zone, terrifying women who were just trying to speak about their rights,” Deeming tweeted.
“Police managed to stop hordes of TRAs, but somehow could only walk masked men past us as they did a horrible Nazi salute.”
In a post on social media, the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) defended the rally organisers, calling politicians and the media “shameful” for trying to “smear this women’s movement with false accusations of involvement with Nazis.”
“This movement is concerned that biological men are undermining the integrity of women’s sports and spaces such as bathrooms. AJA unreservedly condemns the Nazis who invaded the rally. These ugly thugs likely saw an opportunity to hijack the event for their own publicity.”
AJA also called out Victoria Police for their “very odd policing” of the rally.
“While the Victorian Police held back the trans activists who arrived to disrupt the rally, they did not do the same to the Nazis,” the spokesperson said. “Rather they seemed to facilitate their entry to where the women’s rally was taking place on parliament steps.”
Deeming thanked the AJA for being “a brave voice of reason.” But despite this, Pesutto appears to be exploiting the situation for his own political ends. The Liberal leader confirmed he would move a motion at the next party room meeting to expel Deeming from the party.
“What I’m doing is a statement that we will not tolerate or ever accept any association with neo-Nazis and white supremacists or anybody who sympathises with them,” Pesutto said.
So, let’s just get this straight: A group of women legally gathered to speak about women’s rights in Australia. That gathering was crashed by a group of males. Politicians and the media are now refusing to listen to that group of women. Instead, they’re insisting that the group of males represent and speak for those women.
And to make matters worse, the women are now being held responsible for the actions of the men.
Let Women Speak, indeed!
In sum, if you want to shut down and silence your opponent in Australia, all you have to do is attend their rally and raise the Nazi salute. That’s apparently all it takes to have your political opposition expelled.
