July 17, 2026 — 6:04pmMoira Deeming has been dumped as a Liberal candidate for the November election and will serve out her remaining days in parliament as a lame-duck MP.The unanimous decision by the party’s state executive, which met on Friday in Melbourne to take the extraordinary step of revoking Deeming’s candidacy, signals the likely end of her political career and for the Liberal Party, a destructive four-year ordeal.Firebrand MP Moira Deeming is now a lame duck member of parliament. Luis Enrique AscuiThe final vote was 17-0 in support of disendorsement. The meeting lasted 13 minutes.The intervention by the governing board of the Liberal Party, which was delayed for two weeks by legal action by Deeming, was prompted by Deeming’s refusal to apologise for making unsubstantiated headlock allegations against her Liberal colleague Matthew Guy, a former state leader.This followed Deeming’s much-publicised defamation case against Guy’s successor John Pesutto. The lawsuit, while successful, devoured Pesutto’s leadership, exposed the private communications of Liberal colleagues and for much of 2023 and 2024, rendered the Coalition dysfunctional as an opposition.The stripping of Deeming’s candidacy will bring relief across opposition ranks that were previously split over her role in the party but are now united in wanting her gone. A text sent on Friday from one Liberal figure to colleagues read: “Happy Moira Disendorsement Day to all who celebrate.”It also clears the path for Pesutto, in backbench exile since he lost the leadership in December 2024, to serve as a minister in the next government if the Coalition returns to power after November 28.A fresh preselection process for the No.1 position on the party’s Western Metropolitan Region upper house ticket – a spot that carries a certain seat in parliament – will be finalised when the state executive next meets on Thursday.Two Liberal sources unable to discuss internal party matters publicly said a new candidate will be quickly selected by the state executive, rather than another ballot of branch and state council members.Melbourne deputy mayor Roshena Campbell, western suburbs community leader Jenny Matic, and Trung Luu, a Liberal MP currently preselected in the No.2 position, have been mooted as possible candidates.Deeming was invited to briefly address Friday’s meeting by video link and no case against her was formally put.The meeting was called, not to pass judgment against Deeming in a disciplinary process, but to decide the narrow question of whether the party’s best interests were served by keeping her as a candidate.Deeming previously set out her arguments for remaining an endorsed candidate in a 12-page document provided to state executive members.In her statement, she said she raised her allegations against Guy “through the appropriate channels” and did not leak details to the media.“Every member should be able to raise genuine concerns through the appropriate channels, with due process, and without fear that doing so will later become grounds for retaliatory disciplinary action,” she wrote.“Whether a good faith complaint is ultimately substantiated is a separate question.”Deeming accused Guy of assault by putting her a in headlock while the pair were seated at a table during a Macedonian community dinner in Sunshine West on May 23. In text messages to colleagues, she likened the force involved to being smashed in the base of her skull with a wine bottle.She initially made the allegations to Jess Wilson’s office and was advised, if she believed she had been assaulted, to take the matter to Victoria Police. She provided a statement to police on June 16.Victoria Police initiated an investigation but dropped the matter without questioning Guy after CCTV footage obtained from the venue and published by this masthead showed he had no case to answer.Deeming refused to apologise for the episode and maintains she did nothing wrong.Deeming in her statement says she misunderstood the meaning of headlock and did not resile from her allegation that Guy treated her roughly at the dinner. She detailed what she claims was “a sustained pattern of personal hostility” towards her by Guy which began before she entered parliament.She said Guy’s treatment of her at the dinner was “unexpected, unwelcome and distressing”.“Without warning or consent, Mr Guy reached across and in front of the person seated between us, grabbing hold of me firmly around the back of my neck and shoulders, gripped me painfully and pulled me diagonally forward and downward towards him,” she wrote.This description is not supported by the CCTV footage, which shows Guy briefly resting a hand on Deeming’s shoulder as the pair lean forward in conversation in the middle of a noisy, public function.Longstanding Liberal Matthew Guy has demanded an apology. It has not been forthcoming. Eddie JimTo bolster her claim, Deeming provided to the state executive a submission by Elvis Sinosic, a mixed martial arts fighter and United Australia Party candidate at the 2022 federal election.Sinosic, having viewed the footage, suggested that Guy might have subjected Deeming to a “single arm Thai clinch” – a submission hold used in Muay Thai fighting. Guy, while a renowned political pugilist, has no training in Muay Thai.Sinosic’s current involvement with the Libertarian Party, as a member of the party’s federal executive, may offer a glimpse into Deeming’s political future.One Nation founder and president Pauline Hanson has publicly said she has no interest in recruiting Deeming to her party. “You don’t do that to your fellow colleagues,” she said of Deeming’s treatment of Guy.Deeming is free to attend Liberal party room meetings and sit next to her colleagues on the opposition benches of the upper house. She is not the first sitting MP to be disendorsed, but is perhaps the first to be re-endorsed and dumped as a candidate within the space of 3½ months.Known as a culture warrior on the sex-based rights of women, Deeming was first selected to represent the Liberal Party in 2022 and again in April this year after the candidate who beat her in a ballot of branch and state council members was revealed to have provided a character reference for a convicted child sex offender.Deeming was subsequently endorsed to keep her seat, with the vocal support of party leader Wilson. On Friday, Wilson joined her fellow state executive members in voting Deeming off the party ticket.Wilson said: “The State Executive of the Victorian Liberal Party has resolved that Moira Deeming will no longer represent the party as a candidate for the Western Metropolitan Region in November.“This matter is now concluded. My singular focus remains on the issues that matter to Victorians and outlining our plan to deliver a fresh start this November.”Chip Le Grand leads our state politics reporting team. He previously served as the paper’s chief reporter and is a journalist of 30 years’ experience.Connect via email.From our partners