Ousted MP Moira Deeming will not be readmitted to the parliamentary wing of the Victorian Liberal Party after her bid to return failed today.
A 14-14 vote in the party room highlighted a deeply divided party, with leader John Pesutto using his casting vote to break the deadlock.
The decision has been criticised by several Liberal MPs, including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who described it as “shameful.”
However last week, Deeming won her case against Pesutto, with the Federal Court ruling that he had defamed her during a series of media appearances and in a party expulsion motion.
The judge found that Pesutto had implied Deeming was unfit to remain in the parliamentary Liberal Party.
He also stated he would not personally support a decision to reintegrate Deeming within the party, but said it would be a matter for the party as a whole to decide on.
Today, his vote decided Deeming’s fate within the party.
“This concludes the matter,” Pesutto said after the meeting.
“It was a long discussion, a civil discussion. Everybody who wanted to speak had an opportunity to address all of the points that they wished to convey.”
The party room meeting was called earlier the week when five state Liberal MPs co-signed a motion calling for Deeming to be reinstated.
In a joint statement, Liberal MPs Bill Tilley, Richard Riordan, Renee Heath, Joe McCracken and Chris Crewther, called Deeming’s expulsion from the party “fundamentally flawed”.
Riordan, who was one of the MPs who voted in support of the motion, said he was “flabbergasted” by the result.
“We are in a worse position than we were to start with in the sense it’s not resolved, our party room is split down the middle,” he said.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott took to social media after the decision to question the result.
“A shameful result from the Victorian Liberal party room,” he wrote on X.
“How can someone elected as a Liberal be expelled on the basis of a lie and not be readmitted once the truth is there for all to see? Especially right before Christmas, the season of goodwill, this is a truly contemptible failure to act with honour and decency.”
Deeming last week told reporters she “still believed” in the Liberal Party and had “every right” to return.
“I have every right to be there, I did nothing wrong,” she said.
“All the accusations that were made about me, they were just disproven in court.”
