Aussie liberal leader found to have defamed his former MP

The ABC reports:

Victoria’s Opposition Leader John Pesutto has lost a defamation case against former Liberal partyroom colleague Moira Deeming.

Ms Deeming brought the lawsuit against Mr Pesutto, alleging the Victorian Liberal leader had defamed her as a Nazi sympathiser in the wake of an anti-trans-rights rally.

She won $300,000 damages plus costs.

I can’t recall a party leader being sued for defamation before by someone who was in their caucus.

His mistake was repeating smears that attending a gender-critical rally was somehow aligning with Nazis. He threw his own MP under the bus to try and appease the wine mob, and has ended up fatally wounded.