Ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming was told in a secretly recorded meeting there was no way she could stay in the party after attending a rally gatecrashed by men who did the Nazi salute.

The 70-minute recording was played on the second day of the defamation trial between Deeming and party leader John Pesutto.

She launched court action against Pesutto over comments he made about her attending the March 2023 rally outside state parliament.

She was suspended and later expelled from the party.

The meeting was attended by Deeming, Pesutto, leader of the opposition in the upper house Georgie Crozier and deputy Liberal leader David Southwick.

Then-deputy leader of the upper house Matt Bach and Pesutto’s then-chief of staff Rodrigo Pintos-Lopez were also in attendance.

The audio, played before Justice David O’Callaghan in the Federal Court on Tuesday, featured Deeming being hauled over the coals for her involvement in the Let Women Speak rally as well as images of her having champagne afterwards with organisers, including anti-trans rights activist Kellie-Jay Minshull.

Deeming is heard telling the leadership said she had no idea the Nazis were even at the rally until police arrested them.

“Are you accusing me of actual Nazi links?” Deeming asked Pesutto.

“Very obviously, I am not a Nazi, and I don’t support Nazis.”

Her links to rally organiser Angela Jones, who tweeted “Nazis and women want to get rid of pedo filth, why don’t you?” was also raised as problematic to the Liberal Party’s ability to win the next state election.

Pesutto said he was “getting clobbered” over Deeming’s involvement with the rally and in turn there would be a public perception that the Liberals hated the LGBTIQ+ community.

During the meeting, Pesutto told Deeming he had come to the meeting thinking there would be two outcomes.

“Either you resign from the parliamentary party,” he said, or he would look at “a process under the parliamentary rules”.

Surprised by that declaration, Deeming said: “Before I came in here, I didn’t think that was even anywhere near a reasonable case to make that argument.”

At times the meeting became heated, with people talking over each other.

Deeming’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC told the court that her client was ambushed and subjected to a “shocking” and prolonged attack during meeting.

“It’s a form of what young people call gaslighting,” she said.

“They bullied her.”

She said Deeming had already made concessions to denounce Nazism, among other things, but Pesutto never intended to give her the opportunity.

Deeming agreed to do everything asked of her, except disown her friends in totality, Chrysanthou said.

At the end of the long meeting, Pesutto flagged Deeming’s expulsion and suggested she could resign to save the party time and energy.

“The damage is done – I am sorry it had to come to this,” he told her.

High-profile Liberals will give evidence in the three-week trial including Senator Sarah Henderson, Southwick and former MP Matt Bach, who is flying in from his new home in Britain.

Pesutto has denied wrongdoing and his barrister Matt Collins KC is yet to address the court at length over the case.

Deeming has sat in parliament as an independent MP since she was expelled from the Liberal party room in May 2023.

Pesutto previously reached settlements with Kellie-Jay Keen and Angela Jones, issuing both women a public apology.

Mediation between him and Deeming broke down after the former Liberal MP demanded to return to the party room without conditions.

The trial continues.

-AAP