TLDR
The Victorian Liberal Party State Executive will meet at 5:30 pm on Friday 18 July 2026 to vote on disendorsing Moira Deeming as a candidate for the November 2026 state election. Deeming dropped her Supreme Court injunction bid after the court scheduled a hearing for 17 July 2026, saying the party now has all evidence before it. Victoria Police reviewed CCTV of an incident involving former leader Matthew Guy and found no offence, resulting in no charges. The dispute is the latest chapter in a bitter factional war inside the Victorian Liberals that has already produced a multimillion-dollar defamation judgment against a former party leader.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
State Executive sets Friday deadline for disendorsement vote
The Victorian Liberal Party State Executive will convene at 5:30 pm on Friday 18 July 2026 to consider disendorsing Moira Deeming as a candidate for the November 2026 state election.verifiedVerified Source: theaustraliatoday.com.au[1] The meeting, confirmed on Thursday, sets a hard deadline for a party room conflict that has moved through the courts and generated accusations of assault, defamation and factional branch-stacking.
Deeming holds the Western Metropolitan Region seat in Victoria's Legislative Council.[2] Disendorsement would strip her of party backing for that seat at the November poll, effectively ending her parliamentary career under the Liberal banner.
Deeming drops Supreme Court injunction bid
Deeming filed proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria on 3 July 2026, seeking an injunction to restrain the State Executive from meeting.[1] The court scheduled a one-day hearing for 17 July 2026. Deeming discontinued those proceedings on Thursday, the Supreme Court of Victoria announced.verifiedVerified Source: theaustraliatoday.com.au[1]
Deeming said the injunction had served its purpose. "Having been overseas and unwell when the story broke and jetlagged and unwell when the disendorsement meeting was called, the injunction gave me time to recover, review all the facts, learn the difference between a headlock and a collar-tie grip, and gather my thoughts," she said.verifiedVerified Source: theaustraliatoday.com.au[1]
"The State Executive, having all the evidence before them, can now decide whether to pursue mediation or reconvene to disendorse me," she said.[1] Deeming said she was ready for whatever the Executive decides.
The Matthew Guy incident and what police found
The trigger for the disendorsement push was an allegation by Deeming that former Liberal leader Matthew Guy grabbed her in a headlock at a community function on 23 May 2026. Deeming lodged a complaint with Opposition Leader Jess Wilson's office and with Victoria Police.
Victoria Police reviewed CCTV footage of the incident and determined there was "no offence detected", deciding not to charge Guy.[3] The police finding did not resolve the internal dispute; the State Executive pressed ahead with steps toward disendorsement regardless.
Deeming's reference to learning "the difference between a headlock and a collar-tie grip" was her first public acknowledgement that the characterisation of the physical contact remained contested.[1]
Federal Court defamation finding against Pesutto
Friday's vote lands against a backdrop of sustained legal warfare inside the Victorian Liberal Party. The Federal Court of Australia found in December 2024 that then-leader John Pesutto had defamed Deeming by falsely implying she associated with neo-Nazis.[2] Justice O'Callaghan's finding exposed the depth of the factional rupture between Deeming's conservative wing and the moderate leadership group Pesutto represented.
Pesutto was subsequently ordered to pay approximately $2.3 million in costs and later faced a bankruptcy notice. The defamation case had its origins in Pesutto's 2023 attempt to expel Deeming from the parliamentary party following her attendance at a rally that drew neo-Nazi protesters, which Deeming denied organising or endorsing.
What happens next for Deeming and the Victorian Liberals
The State Executive now faces a binary choice: pursue mediation with Deeming or proceed to a formal disendorsement vote at Friday's meeting.[1] Deeming's statement signals she will not pre-emptively resign from the process, leaving the decision squarely with the Executive.
A disendorsement would not automatically remove Deeming from the Legislative Council, where she could continue to sit as an independent for the remainder of the term. The Victorian Liberals face a state election in November 2026, and internal conflict of this intensity, played out across the Federal Court and the Supreme Court, presents the party's new leadership under Jess Wilson with a combustible factional inheritance heading into the campaign.
The State Executive meeting is scheduled for 5:30 pm on Friday 18 July 2026.[1]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the Victorian Liberal Party State Executive meeting on 18 July 2026 about?
Why did Moira Deeming drop her Supreme Court injunction?
What did Victoria Police find about the Matthew Guy incident?
What was the outcome of the Federal Court defamation case involving John Pesutto?
Caleb Reed covers breaking news and sport for Bushletter. Fast and verb-led, he writes with a news-wire cadence and no patience for PR spin.
