VICTORIA — Moira Deeming withdrew her Supreme Court challenge against the Victorian Liberal Party on 10 July 2024. The legal action, which sought to block disendorsement proceedings ahead of the November state election, had been filed just one week earlier.

Deeming, a Member of Parliament for the Western Metropolitan Region in the Victorian upper house, submitted a 12-page statement to the Victorian Liberal Party’s state executive the same day she withdrew her court challenge. The statement included a formal mediation proposal and outlined her position that the interim injunction she obtained had fulfilled its intended purpose. "The injunction achieved its intended purpose," Deeming said. She added that the state executive could now decide whether to pursue mediation or reconvene to disendorse her.

Deeming had launched the Supreme Court challenge on 3 July against Victorian Liberal Party president Brian Loughnane, seeking to prevent the party’s state executive from meeting to consider her disendorsement. According to party sources, that executive meeting was scheduled for 5:30pm on the same Friday as her legal withdrawal, despite the expiration of her injunction. The Victorian Liberal Party’s constitution requires a three-quarters majority vote of the state executive to disendorse a candidate, as specified in party rules governing preselection disputes.

The dispute stems from an incident at a function in May, where CCTV footage showed former Liberal leader Matthew Guy placing his hand on Deeming’s upper back. Deeming initially accused Guy of grabbing her violently in a headlock, but later clarified that she had misunderstood the term and that the interaction was better described as a collar-tie grip. She stated in her 12-page submission that Guy’s action was a “friendly gesture” in a noisy environment and acknowledged he did not realize her PTSD-related distress at the time.

Victoria Police investigated the interaction and determined there was no offense detected. Deeming’s lawyer formally complained to the investigating detective senior constable in July, objecting to the police decision-making and arguing that assault includes “any force” applied, including touching. Despite the police finding, Deeming maintained her account of feeling threatened during the encounter.

Matthew Guy has denied that anything untoward took place and stated that Deeming owes him a public apology. “Moira Deeming owes me a public apology,” Guy said, reiterating his position that the physical contact was incidental and non-threatening.

Victorian Liberal Leader Jess Wilson did not comment on Deeming’s political future on Wednesday. Wilson stated the matter was before the courts, a position she maintained even after Deeming’s withdrawal became public. With the court challenge concluded, the party’s internal process now moves forward without judicial intervention.

Deeming’s withdrawal shifts the dispute fully back into internal party governance just months before the November state election. As a sitting upper house MP, her potential disendorsement could affect the Liberal Party’s electoral strategy in the Western Metropolitan Region. The state executive must now decide whether to accept her mediation proposal—which includes a joint public statement clarifying Guy’s actions—or proceed with a formal vote that would require a three-quarters majority to remove her as a candidate.

The case has drawn attention to the Victorian Liberal Party’s internal mechanisms for handling candidate disputes and the intersection of legal and political processes in preselection conflicts. With both Deeming and the party leadership avoiding public escalation following the court withdrawal, the outcome now hinges on closed-door deliberations within the state executive.