KJK suing Australian Liberals for defamation

[fromorbit]

UK women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen has issued John Pesutto and his entire leadership team with defamation concerns notices
UK women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen has issued John Pesutto’s entire Victorian Liberal leadership team with defamation concerns notices, giving them 28 days to apologise and pay compensation for making “grossly misconceived, wilfully vexatious, and wretchedly false” claims, or face federal court action.

In her legal letter sent to the Liberal leader, his deputy David Southwick, upper house leader Georgie Crozier and her deputy Matt Bach on Monday, Ms Keen claims their conduct has seen her become the target of “extreme hate, abuse, harassment, and stalking”, and culminated in her “being physically attacked” and “placed in life threatening danger” at a Let Women Speak rally in New Zealand.

Archive of full report from The Australian:
https://archive.is/lWNTN#selection-255.5-255.135

Brilliant move as it will really help Moira Deeming's case against her party. Also further reveals the crazy sexism going on in Australia.

NB Reminder Australian Liberals are actually politically somewhat like UK Tories.

That passage, I think you will find, refers to whatever is said in Parliament. That is Parliamentary privilege.

What Pesutto is being held to is things he has said outside of Parliament. As I understand it, he has no protection from that clause at all.

This is the same in Australia so I believe.

He probably thought a woman (real one) wouldnt be so brazen as to take him to court. That and the distance between the countries.

And did anyone see from the transcript he said
PESUTTO:: Well, but never the less Neil, we are left with a situation that we you have a member of the liberal team associating with people with these associations. Know public associations with these, and I just can’t, can’t understand. I am a party, a leader of the party who wants to govern for all Victorians. And the values that I’m espousing, as Liberal leader, are not consistent with those Nazi activists. I know Moira is not a Nazi, but my point is that she is associating with people who are. +++

Yes you could say it was a stumble through words, but his meaning is clear. He believes he Is the party.

That and a load of guff about free speech, but only within parameters. That's not free speech then is it.
I'm a big, huge fan of free speech, everything, all words, any time.
Banning speech people dont like is just a giant step to 1984.
If we dont know what so called hate groups say, we can never counter argue, will never change minds, and, critically cant make arguments to save our lives in the event we need to. We need to hear as many conflicting arguments for and against any damn thing to make up our own minds as to what is true.

Yes, winnading

However, I also looked at that when I heard it and it seemed to be a fully formed statement.

He said: "I know Moira is not a Nazi, but my point is that she is associating with people who are." and then immediately said "And that brings them into a place that is unacceptable for me as leader. And I believe unacceptable for the party."

And if Pesutto gets away with that, then I reckon that all the fuckwittery about things that KJK says in her live streams needs to fucking stop. Because if it is good enough for Pesutto to make this mistake as the Victoria Opposition Leader, with legal training and years of MP experience, a broken thought poorly expressed is certainly not remarkable any more by a women who has no media training and no script.

"We need to hear as many conflicting arguments for and against any damn thing to make up our own minds as to what is true."

hear bloody hear.

I am with you on this. None of us should be shamed into not reading or listening to abhorrent views. Because we don't read them and listen to them, and then discuss them, we are fucking sunk.

Mind you, while I don't necessarily find Peta Credlin is someone I seek out for any opinion usually, on this fight I think she is interesting.

Now that she is on Sky News Australia she does let rip.

Considering she is also a legally trained, and a Victorian barrister, as well as her high profile roles in the Liberal Party and the fact she has so many contacts she can draw from for opinion. And was (is still??) married to the former Federal director of the Liberal Party. I reckon she probably has some insightful takes that should be considered.

@Datun I think it was Antifa's presence that attracted Sowell and co. They were hoping for a street fight, 80s style. They didn't realise that in 2023 a known neo-NAZI can (literally!) seig heil with a band of masked followers in front of Antifa and that will not interest them. Not when the true work of abusing unsubmissive women is there to be done.

I'm appalled at the quality of Pesutto's intelligence. I was initially thrilled at reading the thread title because I assumed, back in March, that Pesutto's accusations against Keen were politically motivated, that it suited him to oust Deeming from the party. But reading this dossier, and @Helleofabore's interview transcript, it seems like he believe the slurs? I'm not sure what that means, in terms of honest opinion and defamation, but I think it's so embarrasing he'll be desperate to settle.
I was visiting Melbourne at the time of the rally. Not being very familiar with Keen's history I did a bit of googling in the days following th rally and one of the first things I came across was a statement from a Victorian Jewish group which was critical of the police for giving the neo-NAZIS free reign, but also critical of all press and commentators who associated Sowell and co. with Keen. Who they referred to as a women's rights campaigner. I'm so annoyed I can't find the statement again now. Still, the facts were out there for Pesutto and his aides to peruse.

I also will be astonished if he doesn't settle. The only reason not to would be that he's a fool.

KJK press release
https://twitter.com/ThePosieParker/status/1697187788582449447?s=20

More sick burns "so woefully deficient, is difficult to accept that it emanated from the leadership team of a major political party in Straya"

Sing it!

And now one of the Leadership Team has jumped ship
https://twitter.com/SharnelleVella/status/1697186959851237633?s=20

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-31/liberal-party-matt-bach-kellie-jay-keen/102800836

'The party has been riven this week after the Liberal leadership was served with defamation concern notices by anti-trans rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull.
Ms Keen-Minshull appeared at a controversial Melbourne Let Women Speak rally in March that was gate crashed by neo-Nazis.
Mr Pesutto is already facing multiple defamation suits from dumped Liberal Moira Deeming, who was expelled for her links to the rally's organisers.'

Still calling KJK 'anti trans', ABC?

I thought while typing up the transcript that these were the words of a person who is really, really not a natural leader. These were the words of a person who has ambitions but simply parroted what he thought people wanted to here and got a few slingshots in about the 'corrupt' Victorian government. Well... that might be true, but it didn't add strength to what sounded like desperation to please a population. He really made me think that clinging to that dossier as he did made him come across as arrogant. He made a decision that was poorly evidenced and was trapped.

I remember that the Federal party didn't seem to offer him support. Does anyone remember? I mean Dutton is divisive in character anyway in my opinion but I cannot find him making any comment about it. Has he indicated support?

The ABC are very much entrenched unfortunately. KJK said last night that she recognised their continued lack of impartiality. I wondered whether she has something planned depending on the outcome of this current claim.

Thank you. Sarah writes so clearly and eloquently.

@Helleofabore thank you for all your hard work in this thread ❤

I still can't get my head round this part as I can only see it in one way. Are they saying there is no pedo filth, or are they upset because it doesn't say men? Because I rarely see men (in prominent positions) saying no to pedo filth... and why so angry about that statement instead of agreeing more needs to be done.

And I quote the tweet: ‘Nazi and women want to get rid of paedo filfth. Why don’t you?’
MITCHELL: Oh that is garbage, that is garbage.
PESUTTO:: Is that acceptable in 2023?
MITCHELL: No, of course not.
PESUTTO:: Is that acceptable.
Mitchell: Of course not.
Pesutto: And that is what it is about.

Never heard of her, but bloody hell she was brilliant here.

Pixie

We encountered the same reaction on threads here. Posters would try to shame us when we asked why it was controversial. Because when you think about it and how it was worded, it is quite clear what it is saying. That even the most abhorrent people want to eliminate paedophilia and protect children, as do feminists, why doesn’t the person being asked?

It is always remarkable when people jump to condemn the words because nazi was mentioned in any positive light by people who do not think the words through.

@Doublesky thank you, that was the group. Definitely right wing but far right is an interesting take.
I guess I'm surprised the Liberals didn't pay any attention to them on this. I could understand Labor ignoring an AJA statement, they are definitely ideologically opposed. But I really cannot get my head around what Pesutto was doing, or why.

From conversations I have had Pesutto is trying to appeal to the socialist voters of Victoria. His seat has ping ponged between him and labour recently and he has his eye, as he says, on getting to be Premier. If I remember correctly, he has a fairly narrow margin for leadership within the Victorian Liberal Party so has sold himself as a “left leaning”alternative that will get liberal elected in 2026.

You can see from the 3AW transcript that he is very ambitious and up front about it . (As you would expect).

He is a very different proposition compared to the power factions that have traditionally come from Sydney.

They hate KJK and seek to discredit her mostly IMHO because her safeguarding instincts are spot on.

She got into this fight largely to protect children and the thing a lot of people in power can't stand is that she's 'untoward about paedophiles'. In blunt, clear language.

Good point upthread about how antifa did nothing about actual Nazis because they were too intent on intimidating women trying to speak. Many of them will have wanted to speak about safeguarding children.

Yes. When you look at the timings from the video evidence taken by Fernando, those neo Nazis were there to antagonise the Victorian Sociaists and Antifa mostly, they were down that end staring at them standing in a line. It was already such odd behaviour, the questions have been asked of the Victorian Police of who the fuck let them in and why? One of them has a father in the force, did that come into how they got in? They had masks over the bottom half of their faces for fucks sake??? Did the police never think, oh hang on…. None of those supporting the women have hidden their faces …. And none of those women are wearing a ‘uniform’ like this and the women are not antagonising the other protestors… something is up here. This could be dangerous!

These men were a known group by that time, they had protested elsewhere as neo-Nazis, why weren’t they on a watch list?? Because maybe they were a group not known outside a small circle even then and people didn’t know until they did their final act???

They then rolled out the paedophile banner to antagonise trans people up on the stairs. It was all carefully staged. They didn’t do this down the other end at all….

Why didn’t the Antifa or Victorian Socialist Party leaders tell the Police who those men were so the Police would have removed them? Was it because no one had any real idea who this was yet they gleefully then expected the women to know? And the organisers were dealing with two extremist trans rights activists who were let in by the Police who pretended to be Speaking for women attendees so didn’t notice or didn’t register that the men did the salute.

There are so many questions about those men’s presence there that SHOULD have been asked and answered and were not. In effect, the Victorian Police had a massive fail in protecting the women who were there peacefully holding a rally, as per their permit.

Why didn’t Antifa and Victorian Socialists ever push for answers after it became known the women were nothing to do with those men? Could it be those groups wish to continue to perpetuate the myth that there was some connection through not having answers published on mainstream media?

But I doubt any of those neo-nazi group would have turned up if the counter protestors were not there. Why would they? They certainly weren’t supporting women.

They actually distracted protection away from women if you consider it.

While women had the microphone ripped out of their hands by an activist who deceptively entered the women’s area. Plus the two female ‘performers’ who also used deception at a very hostile event to be in the area where women were. (And people wonder why there is no trust for a particular group of people and those who activate for them)