John Pesutto: Would-be Victorian premier faces more battles after party split around Moira Deeming’s return

John Pesutto’s leadership of the Victorian Liberals is hanging in the balance after a vote on expelled MP Moira Deeming exposed festering division within the party.

Liberal MPs were split 14 apiece on welcoming Mrs Deeming back on Friday, after the Federal Court found Mr Pesutto defamed her and ordered he pay $315,632 in damages plus costs.

Mrs Deeming was expelled from the parliamentary party after a controversial rally she attended in March 2023 was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Friday’s motion failed as it required an “absolute majority” of 16 out of 30 members to pass under the party’s constitution, and two MPs were away.

Mr Pesutto, who also used his casting vote to break the tie, denied being shocked at the closeness of the result and claimed it was not a “slap in the face” to his leadership.

“Today marks a bookend to this discussion,” he said.

Mrs Deeming, who remains a Liberal party member but sits as an independent MP in the state’s upper house, suggested the matter was far from over.

“I will get the apology that’s owed to me and ... it is only a matter of time before I return to the party room,” she said in a statement.

After the 70-minute meeting, Mrs Deeming’s allies told reporters the tied vote meant the issue was not resolved, showed the party was “split down the middle” and would make it “difficult to unite”.

Late on Friday, The Age reported Mr Pesutto had been told he had 24 hours to resign or he would face a leadership challenge, which would require another petition backed by five MPs and a subsequent special party room meeting.

A supporter of Mr Pesutto, speaking to AAP on condition of anonymity, admitted the issue wasn’t going away and was unsure if Mr Pesutto could survive.

“This is the worst result. It’s shocking,” the Liberal MP said.

“There’s a massive divide.”

A second Liberal MP, who voted against the motion, said they weren’t sure if the outcome would be fatal for Mr Pesutto’s leadership.

“It will depend on whether that dissident group is prepared to torch the prairie ... to burn down everything for the purposes of narrow advantage,” they told AAP.

The internal upheaval stems from Mr Pesutto being found to have made defamatory comments implying Mrs Deeming was associated with Nazis following the 2023 Melbourne rally she attended.

She was initially handed a nine-month suspension before being booted from the parliamentary party after threatening to sue Mr Pesutto.

The opposition leader has refused to resign, triggering former tennis player turned Nepean MP Sam Groth to quit his shadow cabinet.

The Liberals will run candidates at state by-elections in Prahran and Werribee in early 2025 following the resignations of Greens MP Sam Hibbins and long-serving Labor treasurer Tim Pallas.