Liberal membership is collapsing in the west. Bitterness about the treatment of an Indian community candidate runs deep

May 21, 2026 — 5:00am

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There is something simple yet beguiling about a Newton’s cradle, the demonstration of Sir Isaac’s third law of motion that sat on the desk of everyone’s favourite high school science teacher.

Alas for the Victorian Liberal Party, the theory behind those clacking silver balls – that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction – has never quite sunk in.

The political demise of Dinesh Gourisetty after his ill-fated preselection battle against Moira Deeming and the exodus we are now seeing from Liberal Party branches across Melbourne’s western suburbs is a case in point. Deeming emerged the victor but ultimately, her party’s fortunes in the west are the biggest loser.

Gourisetty, you may recall, is the Indian restaurateur who beat Deeming in their pre-selection ballot for the No.1 spot on the Liberal Party’s upper house ticket for the Western Metropolitan Region. He came a cropper hours after the vote when it was revealed he provided a character reference to a convicted child sex offender.

The Liberal Party was blindsided by the revelation and embarrassed by the failure of its candidate vetting. Gourisetty, having spent the previous 15 years working to build his standing in the Liberal Party and the party’s relationship with Melbourne’s fast-growing Indian communities, was........

© The Age