An Indian businessman who defeated conservative MP Moira Deeming for Liberal Party upper house preselection has withdrawn over revelations he wrote a character reference for a paedophile, party leaders say.
Moderate-backed Dinesh Gourisetty, a prominent figure in Melbourne’s Indian community, won 37 votes to Ms Deeming’s 29 in contest for the Western Metropolitan Region ahead of the November state election.
Ms Deeming, who won a defamation lawsuit against the party’s former leader for falsely accusing her of associating with Nazis, did not nominate for any lower spots and the loss looked to have ended her political career with the Liberal Party.
But Victorian Liberal Party president Philip Davis said on Monday that Mr Gourisetty had withdrawn his candidacy after it emerged he wrote a character reference for a child sex offender named Kashyap Patel in 2024.
“Dinesh Gourisetty this morning advised me of his decision to withdraw his candidacy from position 1 on the Liberal Party’s Group Voting Ticket in the Western Metropolitan Region,” Mr Davis said.
“This was accepted.”
Opposition leader Jess Wilson said: “Mr Gourisetty is not welcome on my team. I have made that clear to the party organisation this morning.”
Mr Gourisetty has since denied withdrawing, and wrote to party executives saying he wanted stay on the ticket, ABC News reported.
Patel, then 40, was jailed for just nine months by County Court Judge Peter Rozen for grooming and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.
Liberal sources have told multiple media outlets senior figures in the party knew of the character reference but ignored it, while others said it raised questions about candidate vetting.
Newly elected Wyndham City Mayor Preet Singh also wrote a character reference for Patel, which he said on Monday “showed very poor judgment”, and is facing his own calls to step down, WyndhamTV reported.
Mr Gourisetty was also fined $25,000 for unsafe food practices at his Indian restaurant in Hoppers Crossing in 2019 after rat faeces were found in the filthy kitchen and food was being stored unsuitably.
Ms Deeming first entered parliament in 2022 after winning preselection for the same region, but shot to prominence after attending a 2023 women’s rights rally in Melbourne, leading to her expulsion from the Liberal parliamentary party room under moderate then-leader John Pesutto.
She successfully sued Mr Pesutto for defamation after he linked her to National Socialist Network protesters who gatecrashed the rally with a banner reading “destroy paedo freaks” and faced off with far-left pro”-transgenderism” extremists.
Ms Deeming was awarded $300,000 in damages and $2.3 million in legal costs in late 2024, and following a party room spill, she was readmitted to the parliamentary wing in December 2024 under new leader Jess Wilson.
Ms Wilson publicly endorsed Deeming’s preselection bid, while Mr Gourisetty, who has no prior parliamentary experience, secured support from the party’s moderate faction.
Current upper house MP Trung Luu received three votes in the contest for first position but later won the ballot for second spot on the ticket.
The Victorian Liberals remain embroiled in a battle over a $1.55 million loan given to Mr Pesutto so he could pay Ms Deeming’s legal costs, and Ms Deeming may also take further legal action for alleged conflict of interest after five defendants in the case were allowed to vote in the preselection contest.
Header image: Left, Moira Deeming. Right, Dinesh Gourisetty (Facebook).
