Liberal MP Richard Riordan on Tuesday wrote to Opposition Leader John Pesutto, the leadership team and who put their names to the expulsion motion to advise it was invalid under party rules.
Suspended Liberal MP Moira Deeming faces a vote to expel her on Friday, but a fellow party member says the vote would be invalid. Darrian Traynor
Deeming again pleaded for an explanation about what the conduct that justified booting her from the team was.
I am writing for a second time; can I please have a copy of the exact conduct to which the expulsion motion refers so that I can prepare my defence, she said in an email obtained by The Age to Pesutto and the five MPs behind the motion on Tuesday.
Deeming is now expected to mount a defence at the meeting, despite earlier telling colleagues she would not give the vote legitimacy by attending.
The partys parliamentary constitution was updated six months ago and states that a notice to expel a member must be signed by the leader, deputy leader, or five MPs. It must also specify the reasons for it.
Riordan, a Deeming supporter, claimed those requirements had not been met and invalidated the motion.
The Victorian Liberals are launching a fresh motion to expel exiled MP Moira Deeming after she denied trying to sue the party.
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 Fridays meeting, or risk a very messy legal dispute, the member for Polwarth wrote.
I have sought some independent legal advice ... a motion of this gravity must still be signed by its proposers.
Therefore, this Fridays meeting should be cancelled as there is no valid motion to debate.
In reply to Riordans email, a copy of which has been seen by The Age, Pesutto wrote: Many thanks for your email. We note your comments but confirm that the notice complies with the requirements under the constitution. Warm regards, JP.
Former leader Matthew Guy, James Newbury, Roma Britnell, Cindy McLeish and Wayne Farnham put their names to the motion to expel Deeming for bringing discredit on the parliamentary team, but did not include their signatures.
MPs opposed to the validity of the motion say that state law also requires that the recipient of a legal document for it to be valid.
Britnell and a spokesman for Pesutto both told this masthead the meeting would go ahead.
If the expulsion motion succeeds, Deeming would still continue to serve as a crossbench MP.
Deeming was in March suspended from the party room after attending the controversial Let Women Speak rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
Last week, she issued a failed ultimatum for Pesutto to declare she was not a Nazi sympathiser and to allow her return to the Liberal party room or face a legal challenge.
She told colleagues she had advised [her] lawyers to prepare a legal challenge over [her] suspension, which prompted the fresh expulsion motion.
The upper house MP backed down from her legal threat at the weekend, issuing a statement denying she planned to sue the Liberal Party. She said she only wanted a lawyers assistance to help clear her name and resolve her suspension.
All I have ever wanted, since the leaders failed attempt to have me expelled for allegedly bringing the party into disrepute, was to have my name cleared, Deeming said in her statement.
The past six weeks have taken a terrible toll on me personally.
Narracan MP Farnham said Deemings threat of legal action was a step too far.
I felt her retraction was not representative of what she had put forward two days prior, he said.
It has nothing to do with her stance on women, it has everything to do with her behaviour in the present.
Three Liberal MPs, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal party matters, said they did not take seriously the questions about the motions validity.
Both camps believe about two-thirds of MPs will support the motion.
But another MP said: John [Pesutto] keeps talking about reform. This isnt reform, this is Jihad.
Pesuttos office and Deeming have been contacted for comment.
Late last week, federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton left the door open to intervening in the Victorian Liberal Party,.
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