The Moira Deeming question: Victorian Liberals are at war, but leader John Pesutto knows the party must change

Pesutto’s firm stance on the expulsion of the backbencher will cost him the leadership, some say, while others say it will be the making of him – and the party

When Moira Deeming was preselected to represent the Liberal party in Victoria’s upper house, the then crossbencher Fiona Patten dubbed her “Bernie Finn in a skirt”.

Finn had spent almost four decades coasting through controversies until he was finally expelled from the parliamentary Liberal party in May last year after he called for abortion to be banned in Victoria, even for victims of rape, despite repeated warnings from the leadership over his social media posts.

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