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The expulsion of rebel MP Moira Deeming has done little to soothe the fury within the state Liberals, leaving Opposition Leader John Pesutto with the task of trying to repair the damage in the party’s ranks.

Pesutto has vowed to unite his team to fight the Andrews government and move on from the bruising infighting that on Friday culminated in Deeming’s removal from the parliamentary team and the demotion of another MP.

Liberal MPs voted 19-11 to dump Deeming and remove Renee Heath as party room secretary in a fiery meeting that MPs warn will continue to haunt Pesutto and do little to placate the “red-hot anger” unless he takes meaningful steps to repair damaged relationships.

“Today marks a real turning point for the state parliamentary Liberal Party,” Pesutto said after the two-hour party room meeting.

“We are committed to being a disciplined, united and focused team. We know that in order to be an effective opposition, which is our primary responsibility now – to hold the Andrews Labor government to account but also to be the alternative government in 2026 – we know we have to be inclusive, welcoming and an engaged party that is in touch with our local communities.”

But five Liberal MPs, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss what happened behind closed doors at the vote, said there was “so much anger in that room”.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto and ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming.Credit: Darrian Traynor

“[Those backing Deeming’s expulsion] thought the vote was going to be 24-6, instead it was 19-11,” one MP who supported Deeming said. “If Moira hadn’t [fired off the defamation threat on Thursday], the number would’ve been closer to 15. That says everything.”

Another MP, who also backed Deeming, said the vote highlighted that those against the expulsion “were not just a little annoying rump, but a sizeable number of MPs”.

Pesutto denied his leadership had been weakened by the turmoil, and declared he was very comfortable with the level of support. “That’s a strong endorsement of a process that was very difficult, very challenging,” the opposition leader said.

Five Liberal MPs, including former leader Matthew Guy, on Sunday co-signed a motion to expel Deeming from the party room after she threatened to launch legal proceedings to challenge her nine-month suspension.

Pesutto after Friday’s fiery Liberal Party meeting.Credit: Eddie Jim

After initially denying she ever intended to sue the party or Pesutto, the first-term MP on Thursday threatened the opposition leader with a defamation lawsuit and told colleagues she would not attend Friday’s vote because she had “nothing more to add”.

Pesutto confirmed he would defend any legal action.

Liberal MPs from both camps said there were “animated” scenes at the party room meeting when Michael O’Brien and Georgie Crozier moved a motion to strip Heath of her role as party room secretary. Three MPs said they were blindsided by the sanction against her.

Heath was last week accused of inappropriately taking minutes of the March 27 meeting when Deeming narrowly avoided being expelled from the party room over her attendance at the Let Women Speak rally, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Pesutto’s supporters accused Heath of providing three different sets of minutes, claiming MPs’ contributions were inappropriately reported verbatim. They also accused her of mischaracterising the motion that was passed on March 27.

Liberal sources told The Age that Heath’s record of the meeting said MPs agreed to suspend Deeming for nine months effective immediately; that the leadership team and Deeming would issue a joint statement; and Pesutto would release a public statement declaring Deeming was not a Nazi sympathiser.

Matt Golding.Credit: The Age

However, Pesutto disputes that final clause was part of the agreement.

Heath was accused of recording the party room meeting, a breach of the rules, and leaking the minutes to The Australian. Heath denies both.

Pesutto said the party room had lost confidence in Heath’s ability to fulfil the role. Several MPs told The Age they could no longer trust Heath and decided to move against her.

First-term upper house MP Trung Luu was elected the new party room secretary.

Deeming and Heath declined to comment.

Frontbencher and former leadership contender Brad Battin, who last week told ABC Radio Melbourne that he did not like that lawyers were being called in, voted to keep Deeming in the party room.

Trung Luu has been elected as new party room secretary. Credit: Eddie Jim

Other MPs to support her include Heath, Joe McCracken, Kim Wells, Ryan Smith, Bev McArthur, Chris Crewther, Nick McGowan, David Hodgett, Richard Riordan and Bill Tilley, according to two Liberal sources.

One Liberal MP said there were two schools of thought on the path forward: move on and forget about the saga that has dogged the Coalition for almost two months, or continued frustration at the purging of MPs.

The party room is evenly split between the two, according to the MP.

Three Liberal MPs confirmed the party room last week passed a motion for Pesutto to hold a meeting with David Southwick, Wells and Heath to discuss the conflicting minutes.

That meeting was not held, in breach of the rules and the motion agreed to, and the minutes from the March 27 meeting distributed to the party room on Friday by Pesutto were contested, according to the three Liberal sources.

MPs voted to endorse those minutes, which stated the party room had agreed to suspend Deeming, that Deeming would issue a statement and that Pesutto would “confirm” Deeming was not a Nazi sympathiser.

Deeming’s backers dispute that version of events.

“What John’s version of events is and what happened is just wrong,” one MP said. “Why do people feel the need to rewrite history to suit their narrative? Once the dust settles, there will be further discussions of the way people have been treated during this mess.

“The minutes were changed, and due process was not followed. Will any decision of the party room in the future be binding? Obviously not.”

Pesutto’s office declined to respond to the criticisms.

However, other MPs are furious the saga has dragged on for more than seven weeks and say Deeming has never shown any contrition for her actions.

Pesutto declined to reveal in detail why the first-term MP was eventually expelled, but said the reasons were self-evident and on the public record. He said her legal threats and defamation concerns notice did not sit well with the majority of the party room. Three Liberal MPs confirmed the Western Metropolitan Region MP was dumped due to her legal threats.

Brighton MP James Newbury was one of the five MPs who co-signed a motion to expel Moira Deeming. Credit: Eddie Jim

“I think people understood that to be a party, you can’t really have such litigation between members of the same party room,” Pesutto said. “This was more about being part of a team and being disciplined. We’ve got a lot more work to do. Reform isn’t easy and reform takes time.”

Brighton MP James Newbury, who was one of the MPs to put his name to today’s motion, said: “You cannot sue your boss and expect to keep your job.”

Nepean MP Sam Groth declared the outcome of the meeting was a “line in the sand” moment for the party, which needed to turn its blowtorch on the Andrews Labor government.

“It’s time for the Liberal Party to start being a viable option, a different alternative government for Victoria, and it’s time the party becomes one and becomes united and gathers behind John Pesutto,” Groth said.

Deeming will continue to represent the Western Metropolitan upper house region on the crossbench.

Although Deeming was expelled from the parliamentary party, she is still a member of the wider Liberal Party, a situation that Pesutto said was under active consideration by the party’s administrative committee.

However, one committee member told The Age that there was no motion put to them to consider expunging Deeming from the party.

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