Deeming emailed MPs on Thursday to say she would not be attending the meeting,according to one Liberal MP speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss party matters.
Deputy Liberal leader David Southwick on Thursday declined to speculate on whether there would be an 11th hour compromise.
“It’s pretty clear where that is all heading,” he told reporters. “I’ve got no more to add.”
Both Deeming’s supporters and her critics believe Friday’s expulsion motion will pass. Should it succeed,the MP will continue to serve in parliament on the crossbench.
Earlier,the Liberal Party’s national branch for lesbian,gay,bisexual and transgender members called on Victorian MPs to expel the Western Metropolitan MP at Friday’s highly anticipated party room meeting.
In a Wednesday night email to MPs seen byThe Age,Liberal Pride president Heath Wilson,who is based in Melbourne,wrote that Deeming had “damaged our brand” and it was time for her to be kicked out of the state party room and,eventually,the party itself.
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He also backed Pesutto,the rest of the Victorian leadership team and the five MPs who put their names to the second expulsion motion,which will be put to a vote on Friday morning.
“We consider that Mrs Deeming’s actions have destabilised the Victorian Liberal Party and damaged our brand,and provided a much-needed distraction for the Andrews government which should have its feet to the fire for corruption scandals and financial incompetence,” Wilson wrote in the leaked email.
“The decision to expel Mrs Deeming is a necessary step in promoting a culture of acceptance and respect for all members of our community. It is also a necessary step in bringing an end to this saga and allowing us to reset before the budget.”
Liberal MPs are set to vote on Deeming’s future for a second time after MPs James Newbury,Matthew Guy,Roma Britnell,Cindy McLeish and Wayne Farnham on Saturdaymoved a motion to expel her from the party room for “bringing discredit” on the parliamentary team.
The motion came after Deeming told colleagues she had advised her lawyers to prepare a legal challenge to her nine-month suspension. However,she backed down from that legal threat over the weekend.
“All I have ever wanted,since the leader’s 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.”
The Western Metropolitan MP was suspended from the Liberal party room in March after she attended the controversial Let Women Speak rally on the steps of state parliament. That protest was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
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