Deeming, a high school teacher and mother of four, said the new awareness of gender fluidity and the implications of additional rights for trans people was her “number one issue.” He has also taken a public stance against vaccination and against COVID-19 mandates.
In 2020, Deeming wrote online that “no amount of tragedy and no amount of money can justify the deliberate taking of the life of an unborn child.”
Bernie Finn among supporters on the steps of Parliament House in Victoria after being kicked out by the Liberal Party. Credit: Joe Armao
In March, the Victorian branch’s administrative committee voted for Deeming to run for the federal seat of Gorton. But after the preliminary vote and before the meeting formally endorsed him, a senior party official at the meeting conveyed the view of Morrison’s office, which was that negative media coverage of Deeming’s hard-line social views it could distract from the then prime minister’s campaign.
Another vote was taken and a different candidate was chosen, according to five sources who confirmed the events of the March 26 meeting. All spoke anonymously because party rules prohibit public comment.
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Finn told The Age it would be fair to describe Deeming, who he endorsed ahead of the pre-selection vote with around 45 party members, as his protégé. He described her as intelligent and politically astute and said the vote showed people in Melbourne’s west wanted a socially conservative MP.
He has now joined the Democratic Labor Party.
Deeming has been contacted for comment.
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