Victorian opposition leader accused of trashing activist’s reputation in second defamation suit
The British activist Kellie-Jay Keen has formally commenced defamation proceedings against the Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, alleging he trashed her reputation during his campaign to expel Moira Deeming from the Liberal party room.
Keen, who is also known as Posie Parker, lodged her statement of claim against Pesutto in the federal court late on Monday, in which she accused the Liberal leader of “engaging in a calculated and purposeful media campaign” against her to “justify his proposed expulsion” of Deeming.
Related: John Pesutto’s leadership under fresh strain as two further defamation cases loom
She alleges comments Pesutto made via a media release, radio and television interviews and a 15-page dossier circulated to MPs and the media as supporting evidence to expel Deeming were intended to create “an impression in the minds of readers, viewers and listeners … that Keen is a callous, irresponsible, despicable, racist and white supremacist that supports neo-Nazi ideology and right wing extremism”.
Keen helped organise a “Let Women Speak” tour of Australia and New Zealand last year, holding rallies in several cities, claiming that the push for transgender rights was silencing, and discrimination against, women.
Deeming and Keen both spoke at the rally in Melbourne last March, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis, who performed the Sieg Heil salute on the front steps of parliament.
After the rally, Pesutto moved to expel Deeming from the party, claiming Deeming had associations with the organisers of the event who had “known links with Nazis, Nazi sympathisers, far-right extremists, white supremacists”.
Deeming has already commenced defamation action against Pesutto, with the case set to go to a two-week trial in September.
According to Keen’s statement of claim, Pesutto’s comments caused her to suffer “threats, insults, online hatred, harassment, abuse, contempt and ridicule”, including her “mobbing” at the subsequent Hobart and Auckland Let Women Speak rallies.
Her lawyers are seeking aggravated damages over Pesutto’s alleged failure to make “any attempt” to fairly inquire into publicly available facts underpinning his claims about her and downplaying the seriousness of the impacts on her.
They argue he was called to apologise in concerns notices issued in August and February but failed to do so.
According to another court document, lawyers for Keen and Pesutto conducted mediation over the phone over two days in late February in an attempt to resolve the dispute, but neither party was prepared to agree to the other’s conditions.
Asked to respond to allegations made in Keen’s statement of claim on Tuesday, Pesutto said: “I’ll be vigorously contesting that proceeding and any other proceeding, but I won’t be commenting further on it.”
He also claimed the media had fabricated stories about concerns about his leadership amid the defamation action.
“We just want fair treatment in the media,” Pesutto said.
“There are standards applied to our side of politics that simply aren’t applied to the government … We feel like we are treated less favourably than the government.”
