Premier Denis Napthine has tabled a motion to expel rogue independent MP Geoff Shaw because his apology to Parliament about misuse of his parliamentary entitlements lacked sincerity.
It leaves Mr Shaw’s future as the member for Frankston in the balance, just one day after he gave a long-awaited apology to the Parliament on Tuesday for the breaching the parliamentarians code of conduct.
It was a carefully worded apology that fulfilled the requirements of a motion against him.
But he later told the Herald Sun that the whole process was “a political farce”.
A requirement of the apology was that Mr Shaw was sincere and genuine.
Dr Napthine’s motion, which holds that Mr Shaw is in contempt of Parliament, will be debated on Thursday.
The motion says the Parliament “notes that the member for Frankston has demonstrated by his subsequent behaviour that the apology he delivered to the Legislative Assembly on 2 September 2014 was inappropriate and therefore he has failed to meet the requirements”.
The motion also says that Mr Shaw should be expelled “from the Legislative Assembly forthwith”.
On Monday night, just prior to delivering his apology, Mr Shaw told Fairfax Media that Dr Napthine should step down as Premier because he wasn’t able to lead.
On Wednesday morning, Premier Denis Napthine said the comments, and those made in the lead up to the apology, raised questions about the sincerity of the apology.
He said further action would be considered.
“It does raise some serious concerns about how geninue Mr Shaw was with his apology yesterday,” Dr Napthine said.
The government will examine the comments further, he said.
Later, the Premier told Parliament that Mr Shaw’s apology was “inappropriate”.
A grim-faced Mr Shaw pulled out his phone and began texting following the Premier’s dramatic announcement.
Dr Napthine is expected to elaborate on his decision at a 10am press conference.
There have been two schools of thought within the government about whether to expel the troublesome MP.
Dr Napthine denied his government was divided and labelled the whole event a side issue.
“I’m not fussed about Mr Shaw, we are getting on with the job of delivering the results and the outcomes Victorians need,” he said.
An MP has not been expelled from the Victorian Parliament since 1901 when Edward Findley was kicked out for libel of the king.
– With Henrietta Cook
