The controversial MP Moira Deeming has been expelled from the Victorian Liberal party room.
Deeming’s colleagues voted 19 to 11 to expel her during a 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.
Deeming, who had earlier been suspended by the party for nine months, was not present for the meeting.
Her ally Renee Heath has also been sanctioned.
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 the opposition leader, John Pesutto.
The Nepean MP, Sam Groth, confirmed Deeming’s colleagues had voted to expel her.
“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,” he told reporters.
“We’re going to get behind John … It’s time for the Liberal party to start being a viable option.”
Heath, who accused Pesutto of bullying last week, was stripped of her party secretary position after the former opposition leader Michael O’Brien moved a successful motion.
Deeming had survived an earlier expulsion push six weeks earlier, put forward by Pesutto, after she spoke at an anti-trans rally that was gate crashed by neo-Nazis, who performed the Sieg Heil on the front steps of parliament.
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Deeming maintains that as part of the compromise deal that saw her suspended, Pesutto had agreed to issue a joint statement her 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”.
After the deadline passed, she emailed all Liberal MPs saying she would be mounting a legal challenge to her suspension.
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.
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