Expulsion or Suspension: A Distinction Without a Difference

Victorian Opposition Leader Giovanni Pesutto addresses the media at the Parliament of Victoria in Melbourne in Australia, on March 27, 2023. AAP Image/Diego Fedele

Commentary

The evolving story of Liberal MP Moira Deeming in Victoria is turning into a confrontation between those who want to revitalise the party by re-affirming its principles, and those who believe that the path to political power lies in moving ever more to the left.

By now, the facts of the Deeming story are well-known. She attended a Let Women Speak Group rally in Melbourne on March 18. This group, led by women’s rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker), objects to trans women participating in female sporting events and using women-only facilities.

A group of neo-Nazis gate crashed the rally and proceeded to perform the Nazi salute in front of the Parliament.

The Victorian Opposition Leader, John Pesutto, informed Deeming that he would move a motion to expel her from the parliamentary Liberal party for attending the event.

This decision was premature because, at that time, Deeming had not yet been invited to clarify her role in this event.

Subsequently, Pesutto provided party members with a 15-page dossier outlining the reasons for the proposed expulsion.

In an emotional address, Deeming told her Liberal Party parliamentary colleagues that their decision “will be linked in the minds of the public, to the specific accusations and imputations in that dossier.”

Liberal party MP Moira Deeming poses for a photograph at the the Parliament of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, on Dec. 19. 2022. AAP Image/Julian Smith

Specifically, she stated that “being accused of Nazism ... by the Liberal Party Parliamentary Team of Victoria is going to have heinous consequences for my life” as well as the lives of anyone associated with her, including her family and friends.

She disclosed that she had been largely raised by her uncle, who was a Jewish Holocaust survivor liberated from a Nazi concentration camp at the end of the war.

She indicated that she had already received hateful messages and her children were excluded from activities and groups, and a stranger had attempted to trespass into her backyard.

Punished for Association Either Way

The repulsive reaction of some people to the assumed (but totally unproven) association of Deeming with neo-Nazis disturbingly proves that the dossier’s narrative has already generated irrational responses by thoughtless people willing to take matters into their own hands.

These people are neither able nor willing to think critically about the free speech implications of the suspension of Deeming.

Following the speech, the Victorian opposition leader backflipped and decided to hand her a nine-months suspension rather than expulsion.

Police remove a protester during a transgender rights rally, involving opposing neo-Nazi protesters, outside Parliament House in Melbourne, Australia, on March 18, 2023. James Ross/AAP Image

But is there a discernible difference between these two punishments?

On a superficial level, a suspension is a temporary punishment, whereas an expulsion is permanent.

However, a suspension would significantly curtail Deeming’s ability to speak freely when representing her electorate because she would constantly have to consider the effects of her speech on her parliamentary career, and she would be constrained by the possibility of the suspension becoming permanent. This effectively muzzles her right to free speech.

In this context, it would not be wrong to argue that the distinction between suspension and expulsion is a distinction without a difference—she is still being punished for attending the rally, even though she was not involved in any way in the appearance of the neo-Nazis.

The suspension is a disturbing development because it imposes the onus on Deeming to prove that she was not guilty by association. It signifies that, in the eyes of the Liberal Party, she is still guilty by association (even if the association is indirect, unwanted, and involuntary).

Dropped the Ball

But the malaise engendered by this story goes deeper. What is at stake here is the right of Liberal parliamentarians to enjoy the freedom of speech.

In her speech, Deeming indicated that many of her colleagues are annoyed with her for persistently talking about women’s rights, intersex rights, gay rights, parent’s rights, and safeguards for women and children.

Pro-women protesters (left) and transgender rights protesters (right) gather outside Parliament House in Melbourne on March 18, 2023. James Ross/AAP Image

But these topics were foreshadowed in her maiden speech. What else is an MP expected to do but talk about the issues which resonated with her electors?

Or do we live in a conformist society where any deviation from the path of the illiberal elites results in the cancellation of “unpopular” views?

This event could have been used as an opportunity for the Liberal Party to reaffirm its support for free speech. But the suspension works as an impediment to the rights of women to talk about an important issue that has divided the electorate.

The damage done by this controversy to the Liberal brand appears to be irreparable and extensive. It failed to take advantage of an excellent opportunity to differentiate itself from Labor and entrench itself as the party willing to stand up for free speech.

Instead, it was consumed with the Deeming matter for the entire week. During that time, it was not doing the job of an Opposition of holding one of the worst state governments to account.

By being involved in its internal warfare, it lost an opportunity to focus on the enduring importance of free speech within the limits of the law and the legitimate concerns of women who worry about integrity in sports and the privacy of their own facilities.

This story may well have dented the authority of the Victorian opposition leader. Even the federal leader of the Liberals, Peter Dutton, expressed his displeasure at the fracas in Melbourne, as the likelihood of the Liberals occupying the opposition benches for a long time increases.

In addition, its principles have been compromised.

The Liberal party’s official website expresses its belief in the “most basic freedoms of parliamentary democracy—the freedom of thought, worship, speech, and association.”

And in bolded letters, it proclaims that: “In short, we simply believe in individual freedom and free enterprise; and if you share this belief, then ours is the Party for you.”

But the ongoing Deeming saga proves that if you believe in free speech (and freedom of association), it may no longer be the party for you.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.