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Neo-Nazi. Transphobic. Bigot. Far-right extremist. These were labels bestowed upon Moira Deeming for exercising her right to freedom of speech in the name of women’s rights.

Time and time again, the ‘tolerant’ left has demonstrated that inclusivity and free speech are deemed irrelevant when there is the smallest window of opportunity to condemn, malign and suggest the guilt of those who dare voice an opposing view.

Like Andrew Thorburn from last year’s Essendon Football Club debacle, Deeming has become another national victim of vilification from her fellow colleagues, the media and the public simply because of ‘guilt by association’, her Christian conservative views, and her commitment to fight for women’s sex-based rights.

Deeming’s political doomsday began on March 18, when the MP for Victoria’s Western Metropolitan Region addressed the Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne to voice concerns about women’s safety and fairness in female-only spaces and sports. Ultimately, Deeming sought to take a stand against society’s cancellation of biological females to accommodate transgenderism.

The event was gate-crashed by a group of saluting neo-Nazis, whom Deeming was wrongfully accused of being associated with and was then branded a Nazi sympathiser.

It didn’t matter that she denied any such association and condemned the extremist demonstrations. Liberal opposition leader John Pesutto moved to expel Deeming from the party, yet the end result was her suspension for nine months.

Amid the smear campaigns, is Moira Deeming really as horrible as her political peers and the mainstream media paint her to be? Are her actions really emblematic of Nazi qualities?

Not according to Manh Nguyen.

Deeming recently tweeted screenshots sharing a Facebook post written by Nguyen, a “lovely”, “precious” and “dear family friend” of hers and her family.

Nguyen was an asylum seeker from Vietnam who arrived in Australia in 2013. He met Deeming while volunteering at the 2014 Victorian state election, and after telling her that he had nowhere to live, Deeming “welcomed me to her house” where she and her family “saved me from homelessness, illness, illiteracy and possible death”. Read the full post below:

Manh Nguyen’s Facebook Post on Moira Deeming (Edited for Clarity)

“To everyone who already [knows] the truth about what happened at the rally, and to everyone who still [wants] to understand what values Moira is committed to bring to the community, I would like to offer you some clues from me.

I don’t live in Melbourne anymore and I’m not about to tell you what happened at the rally. I’m telling you about what I witnessed when I was living in her house.

Moira and her family have saved me from homelessness, illness, illiteracy and possible death. I met her only once at the election in 2014. She welcomed me to her house after I told her that I had [nowhere] to live. I was a 17-year-old asylum seeker, who came by boat in 2013 and had cancer (which we found out about [a] few [months] later). I was released from [an] immigration detention centre after living there for 15 months.

I had no money because Centrelink made [a] mistake with my SRSS payment for months. Moira’s daughter Eva-Rose offered me her bedroom where I stayed for almost a year. Her husband used to cook for me every day after work. They taught me English and [took] me with them [to] many social events.

Moira enrolled me [in] school and would drive me there on the days I missed the bus. Andrew bought me chopsticks as well as taught me how to use cutlery correctly. They celebrated my birthday in a Vietnamese restaurant. They did all of that for me with the money Andrew earned from his full-time job (which [was the] whole family’s only income).

Even though it was really difficult, they also never complained to me even one time (which my parents would if it were them). And guess what, I was the one who would complain, because in my view now, I was an awful teenager.

When I was found to have lymphoma, Moira was with me in hospital to give me courage, Andrew would skip his lunch time and catch the tram to visit me in hospital every day. They sent the kids to babysitters so they [could] drive me to hospital for every time I received chemo treatment.

They asked their friends to help who would definitely take care of me without me ever [having a] chance to thank them. Her family became patient carers who had to (Help me) do my everyday activities.

If one day the past repeats that [I], as a teenager, knocked on my door and asked for shelter in my house, I would surely need to take a pause and wonder if I can have the courage to [do] what Moira, her husband and her children did for me.

Politically, it is beyond my words and my understanding to depict what I see [as] Moira’s views. However, I truly have trust that Moira has kindness, integrity, courage and wisdom to represent people of all races and religions.

She is proud to see people from many cultures are now living in Australia. She taught her children that people with [coloured] skin are beautiful.

Because I expect the challenges to her as a politician are always there to come, I don’t get angry when I see all [the] false accusations people have made against Moira. I say this in [the] hope that everyone can easily find the blatantly false statements, that Moira is a Nazi (Sympathiser) is a total lie.”

Turning the Tide

We reached out to Nguyen for further comment and observations. He could not understand how the welcoming Moira Deeming he got to know first-hand was being publicly vilified with false labels and allegations. Nguyen said:

“The point of what I have written in the Facebook Post was just to demonstrate that Moira isn’t a Nazi.”

He made no mention of his personal political views or affiliation – only of his concerns about the prevalence of identity politics and the suppression of free speech in Moira’s case, especially having fled from a place where civil liberties are restricted.

“I find that it is the norm that people who are public figures or politicians in Australia always get opposite and hostile opinions against them… and I think on some points it is good because… this is what I came to Australia for, because [there are] a lot of places in the world where people are limited from speaking and having different opinions… but sometimes, I think it goes beyond being acceptable.

“People in this modern day have [become] too political. They look through a political lens for every single matter Then they try to fit everyone into a different political identity or agenda. This is both very sad and very wrong.”

Nguyen’s powerful testimony is one that sheds much light into the political darkness that Deeming has been thrust into, where name-calling and unfounded guilt is the order of the day.

One of the reasons Moira Deeming is so concerned for the safety issues of biological men having access to girls and women’s change-rooms is the fact that she was sexually assaulted as a child from the age of four. The defamation she has received of being a nazi sympathiser is beyond belief. The fact that she was brought up by her Jewish uncle who was a holocaust survivor shows how much she has been slandered in the public square.

Moira’s concern for the vulnerable is motivated by a profound and practical faith. She is a woman of great integrity and courage!  To Moira everyone is valuable, and everyone is important. After all we are all made in Gods image and she treats everyone accordingly.

The humble former teacher from the small Victorian town of Timboon has displayed no sign of Nazism, but only of care and concern for the vulnerable individual – whether it be asylum seekers like Nguyen or biological women and children in public spaces. To them, Moira Deeming is a friend of the friendless and a voice for the voiceless.

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Photo via Moira Deeming/Twitter.