Women’s sex-based rights advocate and Melton City Councillor Moira Deeming has been selected by the Liberal Party to stand for the upper house Western Metropolitan Region seat in Victoria's upcoming state election, in a move that is being celebrated by women’s advocates.
The teacher and mother of four has been a fierce proponent of female-only spaces, services and sports as well as child-safeguarding in the face of aggressive trans activism.
Last year Deeming visited local councils across Victoria to advocate for female-only public toilets and changerooms, seeking a ‘civil compromise’ that would respect the safety and dignity of both women and trans people. “I believe that sex-based rights are inalienable human rights,” she told Melton City Councillors at a meeting last year.
“If people with a gender identity feel unsafe in a particular space then we should accommodate for that, we should look after those people. But you do not eradicate women’s rights that have been so hard won. You accommodate them by reaching a civil compromise. That is not discrimination. That is civil society.”
Deeming has also campaigned against Victoria’s gender ideology driven, hyper-sexualised ‘Safe Schools’ program, describing it as “disturbing and inappropriate”, “reinforcing sexist stereotypes”, “grooming” and a “betrayal of parents”.
To this end she has helped set up the website ‘In Defence of Children’, which “collects testimonies from teachers and parents about the impacts of extreme sexual orientation and gender ideology in Australian schools”, which “undermine the safety of students, the rights of parents and the dignity of the teaching profession”. The website further maintains that “parents and teachers know that encouraging children to reject their own bodies is wrong, that eroticising and sexualising a child’s learning environment is wrong, and that schools should never, ever lie to parents about their children.”
Former Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves, who was viciously attacked during the federal election for similarly defending the rights and welfare of women and children, was one of the first to congratulate Deeming online, commending “her platform of women’s sex-based rights, child safeguarding and common sense”.
Deves called on those who agree with Deeming to support her, and accurately predicted that “as a conservative-leaning woman with courage and conviction she will undoubtedly attract the ire of anti-women fringe extremists, elite woke progressives and the self-righteous left biased media”.
Indeed, after news broke of Deeming’s pre-selection, the usual suspects spouted the usual rhetoric. Multiple media outlets called her “controversial”, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews called her views “hateful” and “transphobic” and Transgender Victoria called them “extreme and harmful”. But what’s so hateful and extreme about advocating for the rights and welfare of women and children, whilst simultaneously promoting care and respect for all? As Deves has rightly noted, Deeming is being labelled “controversial”, “simply for holding views that the vast majority of ordinary and fair minded Australians would agree with”. The recent, widespread, public praise of Labor MP Bill Shorten’s swift move to replace the derogatory term “birthing parent” with the correct term “mother” on a government health form is a case in point.
While Liberal Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said Deeming is entitled to her views which she has expressed respectfully, one anonymous Liberal MP derided the decision, saying the Liberal Party should have “learned from the Katherine Deves experience” and that “voters don’t want a culture war”.
But Women’s Forum Australia CEO Rachael Wong said, “we’re already in a culture war”.
“For years now, the rights and welfare of women and children have been progressively eroded by radical gender ideology, often facilitated by media, government, academia and other public institutions.”
“And in what’s been a David versus Goliath type battle, women have been fighting back”.
“As the public continues to wake up to the erosion of women’s sex-based rights and the grave harm being done to children, we are going to see many more Katherine Deves and Moira Deemings. Indeed, it's brave women like these who will help to elevate awareness of these harms and restore the rights, safety and dignity of women and children.”
Deeming will replace long-time Liberal MP Bernie Finn, who was expelled from the party earlier this year for celebrating the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. While Deeming also opposes abortion, her tireless defence of women and children against extreme gender ideology has earned her the respect and support of women’s and children's advocates across the political and ideological spectrum, including those who disagree with her on that particular issue. To these supporters, she extended special thanks after her official endorsement:
“I’d like to extend an extra-special thanks to my many supporters who stridently disagree with me on profound issues. You have sought to understand me, to genuinely tolerate our differences without demonising me, and shown courageous public loyalty to me – even at great personal cost. I deeply and genuinely admire you all.”
This is the kind of collaboration, civility and respect we can only hope to see more of in public life.
Women’s Forum Australia is an independent think tank that undertakes research, education and public policy advocacy on issues affecting women and girls, with a particular focus on addressing behaviours and practices that are harmful and abusive to them. We are a non-partisan, non-religious, tax-deductible charity. We do not receive any government funding and rely solely on donations to make an impact. Support our work today.
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