Victorian Liberal rebel Moira Deeming on Friday delayed a move to de-select her, with her court action leading to the Liberal Party agreeing to stay its hand until after further legal proceedings.
Meanwhile Pauline Hanson has ruled out any path to One Nation for the controversial upper house member.
The Victorian Liberal Party executive seemingly had its ducks in a row to revoke Deeming's endorsement, at a meeting scheduled for Friday evening.
But the plan was derailed when Deeming launched proceedings in the Supreme Court against party president Brian Loughnane. She sought an injunction to prevent the meeting going ahead.
After several stops and starts in the court, Loughnane's counsel agreed there would be no action until after the hearing of Deeming's challenge, scheduled for a one-day trial on July 17.
Later the party said in a statement: "The Liberal Party of Victoria today requested an expedited hearing of the matter brought by Moira Deeming.
"This has been granted by the court, and at the request of the court, the State Executive meeting will be adjourned until the matter can be determined."'
The delay is further bad news for the Victorian Liberals, dragging out the row. The latest episode in the Deeming saga has been a distraction for the state opposition, which needs as much clear air as possible in the months before the November election. It has come during a extensive tour of all electorates by Liberal leader Jess Wilson.
The move to disendorse Deeming follows her allegation that former leader Matthew Guy assaulted her at a function in May. She reported the incident - in which Guy touched her while they were trying to hear each other in the noisy venue - to police.
But the police ruled out any offence, and a video did not back up Deeming's description. Despite the police finding, Deeming refused to apologise to Guy.
Deeming's lawyer has indicated she will maintain the Liberal Party must accord her natural justice if it wants to disendorse her. The party argues she has been accorded this, because she was invited to the planned executive meeting.
Eventual disendorsement would not stop Deeming from running at the election, but would mean she would not be a Liberal candidate.
There has been speculation Deeming could jump to One Nation but asked if she would welcome her, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was blunt. "No - don't want her".
"I want a person with integrity and honesty, and I don't see that, and that's why I would not offer her a position with One Nation," Hanson told 3AW.
She said this judgement was based on Deeming's "allegations against a Liberal Party colleague of hers, [when] no charges were laid, [she] refused to make an apology, and you don't do that to your fellow colleagues.
"It tells me she's a person who's not prepared to admit that they got it wrong and backs away with it."
A Redbridge Victorian poll published in the Australian Financial Review this week had One Nation leading on primary votes, on 27% with Labor and the Coalition each on 26%.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
