Victoria Opposition Leader John Pesutto faces a leadership election on Friday, with Berwick MP Brad Battin emerging as his most likely challenger.
Guardian Australia understands Friday’s party room meeting was held on Sunday between Mr Battin and Liberal MPs Sam Gross, James Newbery, Richard Riordan and Bridget Vallance. File a motion to overturn leadership.
Another motion will also be tabled calling for exiled MP Moira Deming to rejoin the party.
Buting’s supporters believe he has the numbers to pull off the leak and may appoint former professional tennis player turned Nepi MP Sam Groth as his deputy. However, moderates urged Bardeen to consider appointing Kew MP Jess Wilson, who would help unite the party’s deeply divided factions.
Wilson was one of the moderate lawmakers who met with Pesuto over the weekend to urge him to step down, but he refused.
Liberal upper house leader Georgie Crozier is also expected to relinquish his position to David Davis, who previously held the position due to this missed election. Joe McCracken is likely to be tipped towards deputy, although Evan Mulholland is thought to have enough support to fend off the challenge.
Just days earlier, Pesuto had used his decisive vote to veto an attempt to readmit Diming, deadlocking the proposal 14-14.
At the time, Pesuto said the vote “solved the problem.” However, on Sunday, he said it was “clear that there is now an absolute majority of my colleagues who want this issue to be resolved” [Deeming’s] Readmitted to hospital”.
He called for a meeting on January 15 and urged MPs to “put this behind us”, citing two upcoming by-elections in Prahran and Werribee.
Pesuto apologized to Dimin in a statement on Sunday, although Guardian Australia understands he has not contacted her directly to date.
Deming declined to comment, but confirmed she did not learn directly about Pesuto’s plans to hold a second vote on her readmission, but learned through media reports.
One Liberal MP told Guardian Australia Pesuto’s concessions were “too little, too late”.
They said: “In hindsight, given Friday’s standoff, he should have asked her to return to the party room, which could have been avoided. “Instead, this situation has been going on for several days and will continue to do so. ”
Another said it was “desperate stuff” and believed the backflip was a “slap in the face” for those who backed Pesuto in Friday’s vote to prevent Dimin from entering the party. room.
In May 2023, Deming was expelled from the party after a rally he attended a few months earlier was disrupted by neo-Nazis.
Earlier this month, a federal court judge found that Pesutto defamed Diming by falsely suggesting in comments he made after a rally that Diming knowingly had ties to and sympathized with neo-Nazis and ordered him to pay her Pay more than $300,000 in damages.