“In my view, this is not an appropriate case to allow Dr Bach to give evidence by AVL,” Justice O’Callaghan said.

John Pesutto, leader of the Victorian opposition party, relied on Bach’s affidavits and evidence in his defence of defamation proceedings brought by ousted MP Moira Deeming.

Deeming was dumped from the Liberal Party in March 2023 after she attended an anti-trans rights rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

She has sought aggravated damages for alleged defamation in a media release and interviews Pesutto gave after she was thrown out.

Bach, who left politics late last year to take up the role of assistant headmaster of Brighton College in England, attended the March meeting. He has responded “extensively” to Deeming’s account and given his preliminary opinions on the matter in two affidavits.

Justice O’Callaghan was told that by travelling to Melbourne, his absence from the college would “generate significant administrative and managerial difficulties” and would force his wife to take time away from her part-time job to care for their two young children.

However, the court was also told Bach had planned to be in China for part of the trial to meet with families considering the college.

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In response, Deeming’s counsel, Sue Chrysanthou SC, said Bach swore his first affidavit in May and “knew then that there was a likelihood that he would have to attend the trial in September”.

However, Chrysanthou said that evidence indicated that Pesutto’s solicitors only spoke to Bach about this possibility on 9 August.

The court was told that if Bach had told the college in May that he would have to come to Melbourne, someone else may have been sent to China for the 10-day trip to speak to prospective families.

“And then Dr Bach’s family and his students would only have been inconvenienced by the five-day trip to Melbourne, as opposed to what he’s now faced with, which is his 10-day marketing trip for the school to China, perhaps in addition to another four or five days coming to Melbourne from there,” Chrysanthou said.

Justice O’Callaghan said there was a “real and fundamental dispute” involving issues of credit and credibility, making it necessary that Bach attend to give evidence in person.

While he accepted the disruption to his home life in England, Justice O’Callaghan said it would not be given significant weight.

“Including because Dr Bach must have known in May … that there was a likelihood that he would have to attend the trial in September in person, that certain inconveniences would be caused to his students and family as a result, and that he would need to make arrangements accordingly,” Justice O’Callaghan said.

Deeming was awarded costs.