Richard Riordan, a Victorian Liberal MP, has written to the party’s state leader, John Pesutto, calling for a delay to Friday’s vote to expel the suspended MP Moira Deeming or “risk a very messy legal dispute”.
The Polwarth MP also wrote on Tuesday to the five MPs who put their names to the expulsion motion – Roma Britnell, former leader Matthew Guy, Wayne Farnham, Cindy McLeish and James Newbury – saying it was invalid as they did not sign it or provide reasons.
“As the member responsible for the reissuing of the parliamentary constitution to all elected members, I write to raise two issues that I think will force the cancellation of this Friday’s meeting, or risk a very messy legal dispute,” Riordan wrote in the letter, seen by Guardian Australia.
“The notice of special meeting has no signatures. I have sought some independent legal advice … a motion of this gravity must still be signed by its proposers. The current notice of expulsion is therefore invalid.”
He said the MPs would need to reissue their complaint and provide five days’ notice to Deeming, which would mean Friday’s vote must be delayed.
“The constitution is quite clear, and the five proponents must reissue a compliant notice of expulsion with the requisite five clear days’ notice. Therefore, this Friday’s meeting should be cancelled as there is no valid motion to debate,” Riordan wrote.
However, a spokesperson for Pesutto said Friday’s meeting was “going ahead as planned”.
Riordan is a supporter of Deeming, who is facing a second expulsion motion after she threatened Pesutto with legal action last week.
Pesutto and the Liberal leadership team initially sought to expel her from the party room in March, due to her involvement in an anti-transgender rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
When it was apparent their motion did not have the support of the majority of the party room, a compromise was struck, which resulted in Deeming’s suspension for nine months.
According to Deeming, she was told if she accepted the suspension, Pesutto would issue a joint media statement with her, making it clear she had not been accused of being a Nazi or sympathiser.
Pesutto said he never made such an agreement and refused her ultimatum to issue a statement by Thursday afternoon. Deeming went on to email Liberals MPs saying she would be mounting a legal challenge to her suspension.
On Saturday, Deeming denied that she had threatened to tell her lawyers to start legal proceedings and said that any reports she planned to sue the party “are false”, and that she was only contemplating legal assistance such as mediation.
“All I have ever wanted, since the leader’s failed attempt to have me expelled for allegedly bringing the party into disrepute, was to have my name cleared,” she said.
“I have never once considered suing the Liberal party and reports that I have, or had planned to do so, are false.”
It is expected that Friday’s expulsion motion will pass, with Liberals MPs furious this latest episode in a six-week saga has led to further division within the party and distracted them from focusing on holding the Andrews government to account.
