Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto faces a fresh party room challenge following his defamation loss amid calls for exiled MP Moira Deeming to return.

Five MPs have signed a motion calling for a meeting on Friday to bring back Deeming into the Liberals after the Federal Court found Pesutto defamed her.

The group said they wanted to give their colleagues “the chance to do the right thing”.

“It is a simple matter of fairness,” they wrote in a joint statement, shared by opposition emergency services spokesman Richard Riordan.

“As Justice O’Callaghan’s judgment makes clear, the justification put to the party room for Moira Deeming MP’s expulsion was fundamentally flawed.

“Liberal Party members, and indeed all Victorians, expect their elected Liberal members to act with integrity, and to do right by our colleagues as we would by the state.

“As a team we look forward to closing this sorry chapter for good and moving on rapidly with decency and integrity.”

Righting wrongs matter. #springstreet pic.twitter.com/OF9zJ6ZuGx

— Richard Riordan MP (@r_riordanmp) December 16, 2024

Questions over the viability of Pesutto’s leadership were raised after Justice David O’Callaghan awarded $300,000 in damages to Deeming last Thursday.

Pesutto made defamatory comments in media interviews and a party expulsion motion following a March 2023 rally Deeming attended, the court found.

She was previously expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party after the march, and has sat in parliament as an independent.

Pesutto reiterated his decision not to resign on Friday, instead insisting the party “move on”.

“I always had a determination to continue to lead,” he said.

Following the court decision, shadow cabinet member Sam Groth quit the front bench after Pesutto refused to resign.

Groth, a first-term MP who has been touted as a future leader, announced late on Friday he could not continue with his portfolios for youth, tourism, sport and events.

-AAP