Liberal Party Chaos: Moira Deeming's Seat Secure

0:00It's April 2nd, Sydney news today starts now, AI-powered and ready. Chaos in the Victorian Liberal Party has cleared the path for Moira Deming to hold on to her upper-house seat in the Western Metropolitan Region. After a wild week of backroom deals, she's the last candidate standing. Her initial replacement, Denesh Gore-Assetti, got booted Monday for writing a character reference for a convicted child abuser. That kicked off her rush-shree open of nominations. In Thursday, brought more drama. Real estate agent Bobby Lackard jumped in as a challenger from the Indian Community Faction, but he got struck off right away over paperwork issues. Meanwhile, two of Deming's allies, Stephen Murphy and Tim Beto, nominated just to withdraw by evening, leaving no one else in the race. Party members are fuming over the shambles. They got just one hour's notice Tuesday night that nominations were reopening for 36 hours. Deming's had to scramble for police checks, credit reports, 10 member signatures and a hundred-question declaration, plus four over 5,000 dollars each, though it's refunded

1:06on withdrawal. Deming's been on personal leave all week and hasn't said if she'll actually run for the seat she's held since 2022. Her colleague Trung Lu pulled out two, sticking with his number two spot. There's talk she might jump to one nation or the libertarians, but nothing confirmed. Opposition leader Jess Wilson calls it an internal matter, and with the vetting process now under review, this liberal infighting shows no signs of. Cooling down anytime soon.