The Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto, says he can’t see a way back into the party for controversial MP Moira Deeming, after her colleagues voted to expel her from their party room.
Liberal MPs voted 19 to 11 to expel Deeming during a two-hour party room meeting on Friday morning, meaning she will have to serve the remaining three-and-a-half years of her term on the crossbench of the upper house of the Victorian parliament.
She remains a member of the broader Liberal party, though Pesutto said this was under review.
“My understanding is the administrative wing of the party is considering the matter. I don’t want to preempt anything they may decide,” he said.
Deeming, who had earlier been suspended by the party for nine months, was not present for the meeting.
Her ally, upper house MP Renee Heath, who accused Pesutto of bullying last week, was also stripped of her party secretary position in a separate motion.
While Pesutto said Heath “still has a future in the party room”, he could not see a way back for Deeming.
“I can’t see that at all, let’s be honest, after what’s transpired,” he said.
The expulsion motion was put forward by five MPs – Roma Britnell, Wayne Farnham, Matthew Guy, Cindy McLeish and James Newbury – who alleged Deeming was “bringing discredit” on the parliamentary team by threatening legal action against Pesutto.
Pesutto said the motion had “nothing to do with whether somebody is conservative or progressive”.
“Nobody could look at that and say that is a tenable position in any political party for one member of the party room – whichever the party is – to sue another member of that party,” he said.
Several MPs spoke after the meeting, all signalling their intention to move forward as a unified team.
“I think it’s a real chance to draw a line in the sand for the party now. We’ve had a meeting, we’re going to move forward,” the Nepean MP, Sam Groth, told reporters.
“We’re going to get behind John … It’s time for the Liberal party to start being a viable option.”
Upper house MP David Davis, who also backed the motion, described the result as “strong and decisive”.
Newbury said an MP making legal threats against the party and its leader can’t expect to keep their job, adding that following through on the warning would be a “gross act of betrayal”.
Deeming had survived an earlier expulsion push six weeks ago, put forward by Pesutto, after she spoke at an anti-trans rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis, who performed the Sieg Heil salute on the front steps of parliament.
Deeming maintains that, as part of the compromise deal that saw her suspended, Pesutto had agreed to issue a joint statement that exonerated her of being a Nazi or Nazi sympathiser. Pesutto denies he made such an agreement.
The issue came to a head last week when Deeming issued Pesutto with an ultimatum: release a statement by 2pm on the Thursday, or she would “instruct [her] lawyers to commence legal proceedings”.
At the weekend, Deeming issued another statement denying she planned to sue the Liberal party and claimed she only wanted a lawyer’s assistance to help clear her name.
But on Thursday, Pesutto’s office confirmed he had received a defamation concerns notice from Deeming’s lawyers. The letter warned of possible federal court proceedings if Pesutto didn’t immediately seek the withdrawal of Friday’s expulsion motion, publish an apology to her on his website, and pay her compensation and legal costs.
Pesutto said he had engaged lawyers to “vigorously defend” any action.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, accused the Liberal party of expelling Deeming only after she threatened legal action against their leader, rather than for her views on transgender people.
“The moment she threatened to sue Mr Pesutto, she has to go. That tells you all you need to know,” Andrews said.
The results of the ballot over the motion to expel Deeming from the party room:
Those who voted in favour: John Pesutto, David Southwick, Georgie Crozier, Matt Bach, Roma Britnell, David Davis, Wayne Farnham, Matthew Guy, Sam Groth, Ann-Marie Hermans, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Cindy McLeish, Evan Mulholland, James Newbury, Michael O’Brien, Brad Rowswell, Bridget Vallence and Jess Wilson.
Those who voted against: Brad Battin, Chris Crewther, Renee Heath, David Hodgett, Bev McArthur, Joe McCracken, Nick McGowan, Richard Riordan, Ryan Smith, Bill Tilley and Kim Wells.
