Victorian Liberal MPs push to overthrow leader and beat Dan Andrews

Victorian Liberal leader Michael O’Brien could be ousted on Tuesday morning as former party boss Matthew Guy moves to overthrow him.

Mr O’Brien has called an in-person party room meeting for 7.45am on Tuesday at the Liberal Party headquarters in Melbourne, where his colleagues will make a call on his future.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the embattled leader said he had called the meeting to put the speculation to bed once and for all because Victorians want the party to be focused on Victorians.

There are concerns the Liberals are losing their chance to topple Premier Daniel Andrews at the next state election under Mr O’Brien.

But Mr O’Brien will not resign and is confident he maintains the support of his party room, despite facing ongoing doubts over his leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Frontbenchers Matthew Guy and Tim Smith resigned from the shadow cabinet on Monday morning in anticipation of the leadership spill.

Mr Guy has strong backing from some sections of the party, as he chases the votes of 31 MPs.

A spokesman for Mr O’Brien said earlier on Monday he would not resign and believed he had majority support.

Mr Guy’s move for the top job comes almost six months after backbencher Brad Battin attempted to oust Mr O’Brien in a ‘shambolic’ spill on March 16.

Only nine out of the 31 Victorian Liberal MPs voted to remove Mr O’Brien from the leadership, resulting in an embarrassing defeat for Mr Battin.

Mr O’Brien at the time said the result signified confidence in his leadership.

“This was just an overwhelming endorsement,” Mr O’Brien told reporters following the spill.

“It says I have an overwhelming majority and what that means is we are focused on Victorians.”

But there’s confidence that could change this time around amid concern Mr O’Brien is bleeding votes to Labor.

A senior Liberal party source told NCA Newswire they believed Mr Guy had enough support to take the leadership.

“Notice has been given,” they said.

“It’s a very difficult election, it’s going to be a challenging election for us to win, but Daniel Andrews and his government have not performed well.

“If people believe that Michael was strong enough to do what’s necessary, this wouldn’t be happening.”

Liberal Party sources on Sunday told the Herald Sun private polling showed Mr O’Brien would take the party backwards.

In June, an independent poll commissioned by the newspaper showed one-fifth of voters had not heard of Mr O’Brien and 63 per cent of those surveyed would prefer Mr Guy, who held the top job between 2014 and 2018.

Conservative MP Bev McArthur, who supported Mr Battin in his failed bid for the leadership in March, said she would back Mr Guy in a spill.

“I supported the change of leadership in March and I have no reason to change my justification of my position then or now. I’ll be voting for a change of leadership,” she told NCA NewsWire.

Mr Guy led the Victorian opposition from 2014 until he resigned after his devastating loss at the 2018 state election to Mr Andrews.

Labor’s win netted Mr Andrews’ party 55 seats in the lower house compared with just 27 for the Coalition, with a swing of nearly 5 per cent towards Labor.

Mr Guy has publicly batted away rumours of wanting to take back the leadership.

The next state election is not scheduled until November 2022.

rhiannon.tuffield@news.com.au