Victoria’s opposition leader has settled two high-profile defamation cases with a “full and magnanimous” apology.
Pesutto backed down on British anti-train activist Kellie-Jay Keen and Australian woman Angie Jones on Friday.
“I have never believed nor intended to claim that Kellie-Jay Keen and Angela Jones are neo-Nazis,” he wrote.
‘I agree with them that the community’s genuine concerns regarding women’s safety and access to single-sex spaces, services and sports deserve meaningful public debate.
“My comments may have been misinterpreted as expressing that I believed that to be the case. I apologize for any pain, distress or harm that has occurred.”
Mrs. Keen He said he “graciously” accepted Pesutto’s apology in a statement posted on YouTube.
Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto (pictured) backed down on British activist Kellie-Jay Keen and Australian woman Angie Jones on Friday.
Anti-trans activist Ms Keen (pictured) said she “graciously” accepted Mr Pesutto’s apology in a statement posted on YouTube.
“It’s such an amazing step for Australian women that today, more than yesterday, they feel a little bit more confident talking about the unthinkable things that are happening to them,” she said.
“I think what this apology will do is give women some comfort that they actually have the right to speak out about this quasi-religious authoritarian cult known as transgenderism.”
Keen and Jones, along with former Liberal MP Moira Deeming, sued Pesutto in Federal Court, alleging he damaged their reputation following a March 2023 protest.
The Let Women Speak event, organized by Ms Jones, headlined by Ms Keen and attended by Ms Deeming, was disrupted by a group of masked men performing Nazi salutes.
Moira Deeming was expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party and is now an independent MP.
Ms. Deeming, Keen and Jones claimed that Pesutto defamed them by suggesting they were associated with far-right extremists, including neo-Nazis.
The Liberal leader had previously said he would vigorously contest all three defamation proceedings.
Now his only remaining defamation fight is against Ms Deeming and he is due to go to trial in the Federal Court in September.
The first-term MP was expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party after taking part in the Let Women Speak rally in March.
Ms. Deeming sent several defamation notices to Mr. Pesutto, alleging that he publicly accused her of being a Nazi sympathizer and used that claim to intimidate her and threaten her with expulsion.
Pesutto denies having accused the now independent deputy of being a Nazi or having Nazi sympathies.