Moira Deeming avoids being expelled by Victorian Liberal party room despite leader’s efforts

Upper house MP was instead suspended for nine months after a two-hour meeting over her future

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Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has avoided being expelled from the party room after a marathon two-hour meeting of MPs and will instead be suspended for nine months in a huge loss for the opposition leader, John Pesutto.

Guardian Australia understands Pesutto’s expulsion motion did not go to a vote in a special party room meeting held at parliament on Monday morning. Instead, Deeming will be suspended for nine months and her membership in the parliamentary party reviewed then, according to a Liberal source.

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