It is rare that ordinary Australians gain an insight into the inner workings of political parties. There is good reason for this: parties require a degree of confidentiality to have frank internal discussions free from media intrusion that would hinder rather than assist the resolution of many issues. Although there are leaks from party and caucus meetings, much of the discussion still remains confidential. Cabinet and shadow cabinet meetings and those of leadership groups generally remain confidential.

This past week, Australians have had a rare glimpse of an internal meeting between the leadership group of the Victorian parliamentary Liberal party and the novice MP, Moira Deeming. Ms Deeming had been summoned to meet opposition leader John Pesutto, deputy leader David Southwick and Upper House leaders Georgie Crozier and Matt Bach to discuss her participation in a pro-woman rally. Unknown – apparently to everyone else present – Mr Southwick surreptitiously recorded the conversation. Why he did this is not clear. It may become so when he is cross-examined by the formidable Sue Chrysanthou KC during the defamation proceedings Deeming has brought against Pesutto. The existence of the recording only became public in recent weeks, not having been disclosed earlier in the discovery process in the action. It is now available to all, having been released for publication by the court. Throughout, Mr Southwick sounds like the chief prosecutor.

Whatever his motives, Mr Southwick’s recording is an insight into how the current leadership of the Victorian parliamentary party operates. It is not pretty. My comments are not about the issues that the judge will determine in the defamation trial. Having studied defamation law and given advice about the subject when at the Bar, I am well aware of the intricacies of the subject, and the many twists and turns that are likely to come as various witnesses are cross-examined. Rather, it is the insights into the state of the party that are my focus.

Mr Pesutto’s opening comments are telling: ‘I’ve very much – and you would have heard this over interviews over recent weeks and the last few months – is to try to position the party so that whoever you are, whether you’re hetero, whether you’re same-sex attracted, whether you are trans, whoever you are the Liberal party can be a voice for you because the values of the party apply to anybody, no matter who you are because it’s about enterprise, it’s about the rule of law, strength of communities, personal effort, those sorts of things’.

Mr Pesutto is selective in his recitation of the values of the party. Compare his list with the values that are outlined in the model constitution recently released by the party. The first of these values is, ‘Freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association as the building blocks of a robust and fair society.’ These values are repeated in the objectives in the model constitution. The tenor of the 70-minute discussion is that Ms Deeming can hold her views about safe spaces for women, female-only facilities and female-only sporting competitions, but there is no place for her in the parliamentary Liberal party. It is suggested to her that she would be better being an independent. When she failed to embrace this proposal, she was informed that a motion to expel her will be moved unless she resigned in the meantime. The premise of the charge against her was that she associated with Nazis, despite her assertions that she did not know that a neo-Nazi group was planning to disrupt a rally supporting women, at which she spoke. It is understandable that Mr Southwick, who represents an electorate with a large Jewish population, is sensitive to any perceived or alleged connections to Nazism. But he seemed to entirely disregard the fact that the women’s rally itself was organised by, as it happens, a Jewish woman.

Towards the end of the discussion, one of the leadership group referred to the rally organisers as ‘your people’ implying that any association other speakers at the rally had with Nazis represented Deeming’s own position, despite her denials. It was unedifying.

My observation of Liberal party members is that their views about women’s issues are  generally aligned to those of Ms Deeming. Indeed, they are the views of the majority of Australians.

If Mr Pesutto’s premise is accepted, the logical consequence is that Liberal MPs will not be able to speak about matters seen as unimportant or unacceptable to the leadership. That has never been the Liberal way.

The recording discloses a number of other worrying matters. The impression I gained was that the leading Liberals were totally cowered by then premier, Dan Andrews. The  members of the leadership group repeatedly claimed that the premier would assert the  Liberals were pro-Nazi. Instead of calling this the nonsense that it is, they were dancing to Mr Andrews’ claims. There was also undue deference to the left-wing Melbourne Age and to social media. Equally, there seemed to be a fear of the LGBTQIA+ community. While that community is entitled to put its views, it should not be dictating Liberal policy.

The claim that the opposition had the Labor government on the ropes at the time and that Ms Deeming’s participation in the rally was derailing their efforts, frankly seem delusional. There is an ongoing risk to members of parliament of becoming consumed by the media bubble in which they work. I recall phoning my wife from Canberra one afternoon, describing the great question time we (the opposition) had that day. ‘It must have been a different question time to what I was watching on TV,’ was her curt response!

The recording – and the case – reveal a clear division in priorities between the inner-suburban Liberals and the rest of the state. The leadership team represented inner and middle-suburban electorates.

Mr Pesutto is the member for the wealthy, leafy suburbs around Hawthorn. Mr Southwick holds the nearby electorate of Caulfield. Despite growing up at Traralgon in the Latrobe Valley – the son of hard-working Italian migrants – Mr Pesutto often appears to favour the Labor-lite concerns of the city elites.

In contrast, Ms Deeming is one of only two Liberal MPs from the western suburbs. The transport corridor stretching north of the Melbourne CBD along Royal Parade, Sydney Road and the Hume Highway is the dividing line between the east and west of the city.

The Liberal party holds none of the eleven suburban lower-house seats west of that line. For more than half a million electors, the Liberals have just two upper-house members. Despite being successful in a sea of red seats, it seems that it was anathema to the leadership group for Ms Deeming to present the views with which most Victorians associate.

With more members of the parliamentary Liberal party due to give evidence, these divisions are likely to be further exposed.