Controversial councillor Moira Deeming has been chosen by Liberal Party members to replace outspoken MP Bernie Finn in the contest for the upper house Western Metropolitan Region seat in the state election.

Deeming, a City of Melton councillor since 2020 who has previously pushed for separate bathrooms for transgender people, was endorsed at a Liberal convention on Saturday night.

The teacher and mother of four was elected to the council on a platform that included: “I will never support rates being used to promote radical policies like banning Australia Day, drag queen storytimes for toddlers, or letting biological males who identify as female use female toilets and change rooms.”

Moira Deeming asked every council in Victoria about whether it was legal to put signs on toilets specifying they were for biological males and biological females.Credit:Jason South

Last year Deeming used public question time at every council in Victoria to ask whether it was legal to put a sign on public toilets declaring that one is for “biological males”, one is for “biological females” and one is for people with “transgender identities”.

She said she cared about the safety and comfort of transgender people but believed that would best be achieved by creating dedicated spaces for them. “All I am seeking is a civil compromise.”

Her endorsement will go before a party administration committee, but Liberal sources said it was expected Deeming’s preselection would be formalised.

Liberal Party Victoria director Sam McQuestin said Deeming was a well-credentialled local candidate”.

“[She] presented very well today, so I think we have a strong ticket in the west,” he said.

“It was a strong field; there were 10 candidates and it took until after 7pm to finish [the convention].”

The Age contacted Deeming for comment on Saturday night.

Bernie Finn was expelled from the Liberal Party in May after saying abortion should be banned in the state, even for rape survivors. Last month he announced he would lead the Democratic Labour Party into the November state election.

Bernie Finn on the steps of Parliament House after being kicked out of the Liberal Party.Credit:Joe Armao

The veteran right-wing MP had been warned about his inflammatory social media posts several times by his Liberal colleagues before his expulsion from the party. He previously compared Premier Daniel Andrews to Adolf Hitler, described a former female staff member as a rat and shared several pro-Trump posts during and after the Capitol Hill riots in the US.

One of the Victorian Liberal Party’s most senior figures, long-serving MP David Davis, was re-selected for the Southern Metropolitan Region on Saturday night, winning by a significant margin.

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