MP Moira Deeming staying silent over preselection lifeline
Updated ,first published
Moira Deeming’s main rival for the Liberal Party’s upper house position was immediately at risk of being eliminated after entering the race in disarray at the 11th hour.
Real estate agent Bobby Lakra was nominated for the Western Metropolitan Region after the party announced it would rerun the contest because Deeming’s successor, Dinesh Gourisetty, was booted off the list just a day after its primary for providing a character reference in court to a child molester.
Lakra is also part of the Indian community in Melbourne and shares the support of the Gourisetty group, which still holds the numbers among the pre-selectors.
But three sources who could not speak publicly about internal matters said: Age It was stated that Lakra could be banned from the competition due to missing two required reference letters in his application.
But one person said Lakra had confirmed with the party that they had the necessary information before nominations closed at noon on Thursday and viewed the suggestion that he could be sacked as a seam.
Also running are Stephen Murphy, who narrowly lost a by-election in Werribee for the Liberal Party last year, and Tim Beddoe, both considered allies.
Deeming and fellow upper house lawmaker Trung Luu, who retained second place on the list in Sunday’s vote, were deemed to have been nominated in the new primary contest in accordance with the party charter.
However, Luu withdrew from the competition on Wednesday to maintain his current position.
Deeming, who took personal leave this week, has not yet announced whether he will continue with the primary.
He has also been the subject of speculation that he will switch to another party, such as One Nation or the Libertarians, but has not indicated that he will do so.
He declined to comment Thursday.
At 11pm on Tuesday, members were given just one hour’s notice that nominations would reopen for 36 hours; This triggered frustration given that the process requires a police check, credit report, 10 signatures from eligible members and completion of a 97-question statutory declaration.
Those who raise their hands must also pay $5,000, of which $3,000 goes to outside consultants to vet candidates, but that process is under review after Monday’s debacle.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said repeatedly on Thursday that the preselection was the party’s business.
Gourisetty knocked out Deeming on Sunday. But the primary was embroiled in scandal on Monday morning when the party was warned about a reference he had made about his friend Kashyap Patel, who pleaded guilty to grooming and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in the 2024 District Court.
Gourisetty condemned Patel’s actions but the party reopened nominations and banned him from running again for the western suburbs seat.
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Rachel Eddie is The Age’s Victorian state political correspondent. Contact her at rachel.eddie@theage.com.au, rachel.eddie@protonmail.com or via Signal at @RachelEddie.99.Connect with: X or email.
Chip Le Grand leads our state politics reporting team. He had previously served as the newspaper’s chief correspondent and was a journalist with 30 years of experience.Connect via email.
