South West Coast MP Roma Britnell moves motion for Liberal Party member Moira Deeming to be expelled

Ms Britnell and four other Liberal MPs have moved a motion to expel Ms Deeming along with other party colleagues, including former party leader Matthew Guy. That motion is expected to be debated on Friday, May 12.

"You cannot work with someone holding a gun to your head," Ms Britnell told The Standard.

"It has gone too far and we need to focus on the important things... not ourselves."

The push comes after Ms Deeming threatened to sue Liberal Party leader John Pesutto last week unless he agreed to certain terms.

Ms Deeming survived an expulsion motion six weeks ago after she attended a Let Women Speak rally that neo-Nazis gatecrashed.

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Ms Britnell said the community had been misled and the issue was never about Ms Deeming attending a rally.

"I will always stand up for women this was not about that," she said.

Ms Britnell said there had been continued private negations between Ms Deeming and the Liberal leadership but no matter how close they came to an agreement, Ms Deeming would "move the goal posts."

"When it got to the point where Moira issued a threat to sue the leader, I felt that had got to a point where there was irreparable damage," she said.

"On Thursday morning a gun was effectively held to the leader's head saying 'you agree to my terms or I will instigate a legal challenge'.

"To then have her say that she never said that, when it's in black and white and printed in the media just demonstrates how difficult it has been.

"You can't negotiate with someone who is changing the goal posts, denying what they've said, when it's in black and white.

"It's unworkable. We've got a very corrupt government who've had five IBAC investigations... that is where our focus needs to be.

"We've got $30 billion in project overruns in Melbourne, we've got country roads in the regions which are significantly posing a danger to our community and we've got a budget about to be handed down to us that we're told is leading Victoria into a catastrophic economic position.

"Our focus needs to be on those things, not on ourselves, that is why I supported the motion."

Western Victoria Liberal MP Bev McArthur declined to comment and Member for Polwarth Richard Riordan said he was waiting for a phone call from Ms Britnell to explain her position.

"I very much support people's right to an opinion," he said.

"I look forward to a conversation with Roma.

"It's no secret I didn't support the original motion, and now Roma has come up with another reason."

Mr Riordan said he had a busy day planned in his electorate on Friday but would now be called to Melbourne "to continue with this crazy crisis."

"I think the community would be wondering what are we doing."

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