Moira Deeming drops legal case against Victorian Liberal party, makes last-ditch bid to avoid disendorsement

Moira Deeming sent a 12-page statement to the Victorian Liberal party’s state executive, providing a mediation proposal that allowed her to end the supreme court action. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP View image in fullscreen Moira Deeming sent a 12-page statement to the Victorian Liberal party’s state executive, providing a mediation proposal that allowed her to end the supreme court action. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP Moira Deeming drops legal case against Victorian Liberal party, makes last-ditch bid to avoid disendorsement State MP abandons supreme court challenge, saying her party ‘can now decide whether to pursue mediation or reconvene to disendorse me’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has dropped legal action against her own party as she seeks to make a last-ditch appeal to avoid being disendorsed ahead of the state election. Deeming launched an eleventh-hour supreme court challenge against the Victorian Liberal party president, Brian Loughnane, on 3 July after she made an assault allegation against former leader Matthew Guy and subsequently rejected calls to apologise after Victoria police determined “there was no offence detected”. Deeming announced late on Wednesday that she had withdrawn the case. “The injunction has achieved exactly what it intended to achieve,” she wrote in a statement posted to social media. The MP, who sits in the upper house for the Western Metropolitan Region, is facing being disendorsed as a candidate ahead November’s state election. On Wednesday, Deeming sent a 12-page statement to the party’s state executive, providing a mediation proposal that allowed her to end the supreme court action. “The state executive, having all the evidence before them, can now decide whether to pursue mediation or reconvene to disendorse me,” she said. “From beginning to end, I progressed the issue in good faith, respected the confidentiality of all involved, submitted myself to the instructions and policies of the party and obeyed the law rather than run it through the media. “For my part, I will continue doing my work serving Victorians and fighting Labor.” CCTV footage from a function in May showed Guy placing his hand on Deeming’s upper back as they lean in to talk to one another. 0:26 CCTV footage shows interaction between Matthew Guy and Moira Deeming – video Police reviewed the CCTV and concluded no offence was committed. Deeming had accused her colleague of grabbing her “violently” in a headlock, but since claimed she misunderstood the meaning of headlock . “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 later clarified. Guy told reporters in June that Deeming had owed him a public apo