A push for exiled MP Moira Deeming to return to the Victorian Liberals' fold is not a direct move against John Pesutto's leadership, insiders insist.
Five MPs have signed a motion calling for a meeting on Friday to bring back Mrs Deeming into the Liberals after the Federal Court found Mr Pesutto defamed her.
Among its signatories was Benambra MP Bill Tilley, who said the motion was not about Mr Pesutto's leadership but rather righting a wrong.
"It's not about a spill," he told AAP.
"There's no grounds for the party to have ejected or suspended Moira. We need to correct that behaviour. We were wrong. We erred.
"It's up to everybody to make a decision on that issue alone. It annoys me when my colleagues start interpreting it as something against John's leadership, or a spill."
Asked if he had reservations about setting a precedent for expelled members to sue their way back into the party room, Mr Tilley said it was a "moot point".
"She's gone and sued John Pesutto because, as has been found in the court, he defamed her," he said.
"If there is a spill, I'd even consider voting for John if he was putting his hand back up."
Mr Tilley, who has announced he will retire at the 2026 state election after a bout with leukemia, said he would not go out of his way to lobby colleagues to vote in favour of the motion.
He, opposition emergency services spokesman Richard Riordan and first-term backbenchers Renee Heath, Joe McCracken and Chris Crewther said they looked forward to "closing this sorry chapter".
"Liberal Party members, and indeed all Victorians, expect their elected Liberal members to act with integrity," they wrote in a joint statement.
But another Liberal MP, speaking to AAP on condition of anonymity, said the group had opted to move the motion because they didn't have the numbers to roll Mr Pesutto.
A spill motion can not be moved during Friday's special meeting because it requires five business days' notice, they added.
The MP suggested the push for Mrs Deeming's re-entry was likely to fail and they would vote against it.
"Even if you accept the judgment and everything else, she's precluded herself from ever coming back by the amount of times she's voted with Labor," they said.
Questions over the viability of Mr Pesutto's leadership were raised after Justice David O'Callaghan awarded $300,000 in damages to Mrs Deeming on Thursday.
Mr Pesutto made defamatory comments in media interviews and a party expulsion motion following a March 2023 rally Mrs Deeming attended, the court found.
She was previously expelled from the parliamentary Liberal party after the march, sitting in parliament as an independent MP.
The opposition leader doubled down on his decision not to resign on Friday, calling for the party to "move on".
Following the court decision and Mr Pesutto's refusal to resign, shadow cabinet member Sam Groth quit the frontbench.
