Moira Deeming will attempt to return to Victoria’s upper house under the Family First banner, completing a rapid political shift less than two months after the Liberal Party stripped her of endorsement and she walked out of its parliamentary ranks.
The Western Metropolitan Region MP confirmed on Thursday that she had joined Family First and would be its lead candidate in the region at the November 28 state election. She has been sitting on the crossbench since resigning from the parliamentary Liberal Party in late July.
“I have joined Family First. I will contest the 28 November 2026 state election as their lead candidate for the Western Metropolitan Region,” Deeming said in a statement. “I am running to win.”
Her move gives Family First a sitting Victorian MP and a candidate with an established profile in Melbourne’s west, but also brings into the party a politician whose first term in Parliament has been marked by repeated disputes, legal action and a prolonged breakdown in her relationship with the Liberals.
Deeming appeared alongside Family First national director Lyle Shelton at Parliament on Thursday morning, saying several political parties had approached her since her departure from the Liberals.
“A lot of parties invited me [to join] … and it was very flattering and very gracious to them all,” she told reporters, but said Family First was a “good fit”. Deeming said she had known Shelton for a long time and believed he would not ask her to remain silent on issues including child safeguards and sex-based rights.
In her written statement, Deeming placed Melbourne’s west at the centre of her campaign, referring to parents in Tarneit, tradespeople in St Albans and small business owners in Sunbury.
“I know the west. I’ve raised my family here,” she said, arguing voters needed a local representative prepared to advocate for parents, women and men.
She also took aim at her critics, saying politicians and sections of the media had attempted to end her political career during her first term.
“I won’t turn my back on the west,” Moira said. “I am staying, and I am asking you to send me back in for another round.”
“I won’t turn my back on the west,” she said. “I am staying, and I am asking you to send me back in for another round.”
The move follows a turbulent few months that ultimately ended Deeming’s relationship with the Victorian Liberals.
The immediate dispute began after an encounter with former Liberal leader Matthew Guy at a Macedonian community function in Sunshine on May 23. Deeming alleged Guy had put her in a “headlock” and reported the matter to Victoria Police. Police reviewed CCTV footage and subsequently announced that no offence had been detected.
Guy strongly denied assaulting Deeming and publicly demanded an apology.
Deeming did not withdraw her complaint or apologise. Through her lawyer, she later acknowledged she had misunderstood the technical meaning of “headlock”, while maintaining that she had used the term in good faith and experienced Guy’s physical contact as unexpected, unwelcome and painful.
That distinction did little to settle the political dispute.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson backed Guy’s demand for an apology, while senior Liberals increasingly questioned whether Deeming could remain part of the parliamentary team. The party moved towards cancelling her endorsement as its number one Western Metropolitan candidate, a position that had placed her in a strong position to win another term.
Deeming went to the Supreme Court in an attempt to stop the party acting against her, before withdrawing the action and proposing mediation. The Liberal state executive nevertheless voted on July 17 to cancel her endorsement.
Eleven days later, she resigned from the parliamentary Liberal Party.
“Today, I have resigned from the parliamentary Liberal Party and will sit with the crossbench as an Independent,” Deeming said at the time. Wilson responded with a brief statement confirming she had received the resignation.
The episode reopened divisions that had followed Deeming almost from the beginning of her parliamentary career.
Elected to the Legislative Council in 2022, Deeming was expelled from the Liberal parliamentary party in May 2023 following a bitter dispute over her involvement in the Let Women Speak rally outside Victorian Parliament. Neo-Nazis appeared at the event, although Deeming denied any association with them.
The dispute eventually led Deeming to sue then Liberal leader John Pesutto for defamation. The Federal Court ruled in her favour in December 2024, finding Pesutto had defamed her by conveying imputations including that she had knowingly associated with neo-Nazis. She was subsequently readmitted to the Liberal party room after Brad Battin replaced Pesutto as leader.
Her return did not produce a lasting reconciliation. By this year Wilson had replaced Battin as opposition leader, and the Guy dispute again put Deeming at odds with the party leadership.
Family First now provides Deeming with a path to seek re-election without running as an independent.
Shelton described her on Thursday as “one of the most courageous parliamentarians in Australia” and said her “resilience and tenacity” made her well suited to represent families in Melbourne’s west.
Deeming said Family First could exert influence in the Legislative Council regardless of which major party formed government after November, arguing its MPs could scrutinise, amend or oppose legislation while supporting measures they agreed with.
Her candidacy will also test how much of Deeming’s personal vote can survive outside the Liberal ticket. Upper house elections use proportional representation across multi-member regions, giving minor parties and independents a route to Parliament, but Deeming acknowledged the difficulty herself.
“Contesting as a minor party is hard. I know that,” she said.
For the Liberals, her move draws a clearer electoral line under a dispute that consumed the party for much of the winter, but it also creates a new competitor on the conservative side of Victorian politics in a region the Coalition will be seeking to hold.
For Deeming, the November election will determine whether the political following she has built through three years of controversy, court battles and clashes with her former party can translate into votes without the Liberal name beside hers.
“I am running to win,” she said, “and I am asking for your support.”
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