"This leader has used his position in a bully boy way, he has pulled out all stops, all the tricks, all the smoke and mirrors from Parliament to try to expel one person when he should be looking after the millions in Victoria," Mr Shaw told The Age. Winners are grinners: Geoff Shaw in Parliament on Thursday. Credit:Jason South The comments came just minutes after Dr Napthine's motion to expel Mr Shaw was defeated 43 votes to 42, after Labor and Mr Shaw Shaw voted against the motion. Although Coalition MPs voted for the motion, privately some have expressed concern about the "optics" of the Shaw saga. One government MP said it was "of great concern" and sent a dreadful message that the Government had spent the seventh last sitting of the parliament once again talking about Geoff Shaw.

Mr Shaw, who will remain in the parliament, said Dr Napthine had "lost the plot". "There are a lot of parliamentarians that need to line up right next to me and apologise for bringing Parliament into disrepute," Mr Shaw said. "Tony Abbott could do that, Julia Gillard, Denis Napthine for wasting so much time and all of his cabinet members who got up and spoke." "The Liberal Party are lacking leadership. Napthine should be looking after the millions in Victoria and making policies for them, not wasting Parliament's time and using his parliamentary powers to bully me." He also endorsed Planning Minister Matthew Guy as the next leader of the Liberal Party.

. Labor extended a lifeline to the controversial MP, declaring it would not be supporting the Premier's motion because it was a "grubby, cheap political stunt". Only three months earlier, the Opposition called for Mr Shaw to be banished from state parliament. A resolute Dr Napthine told Parliament on Thursday morning that Mr Shaw's apology was not genuine and moving to expel the controversial was not a decision he had taken lightly. "It was a farce. It certainly was not appropriate," he said. "The member for Frankston failed the critical test. He was not genuine he was not fair dinkum. It was a farcical situation." Dr Napthine laid out the groundwork to expel the independent, outlining the secretive privileges committee findings into Mr Shaw's misuse of his taxpayer-funded car, which found the Frankston MP had acted "inappropriately".

Labor staged a carefully-orchestrated walk out, after Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews argued that Mr Shaw had complied with a government-backed motion, which demanded he pay almost $7000, serve an 11 sitting-day suspension and genuinely apologise. "This is a circus ... and the parliamentary Labor Party will have no involvement in it," Mr Andrews said. Mr Shaw did not speak on the Premier's motion, sat slumped in his chair and left the chamber shortly after Mr Andrews' contribution. He returned to the chamber vote on the motion at 11.30. The motion was defeated, 43 votes to 42 after Mr Shaw sided with the opposition. In a rare press conference on the steps of state parliament, Mr Shaw revealed he had spoken to Rise Up Australia party leader Danny Nalliah about preference deals.

"He contacted me and we had a talk but it was pretty informal" He did not rule out directing his preferences to Labor and spoke positively about Mr Andrews. "I thought Daniel Andrews was very statesman-like, he looked like a leader opposed to Napthine, who looked like an Opposition leader." The Frankston MP said he was still a conservative but the Napthine government no longer shared his conservative values. He repeated that the whole process had been a farce and said Dr Napthine had not shown leadership.

"How many hoops do I have to jump through?" Mr Shaw said Dr Napthine had neglected Victorians by pursuing a vendetta against himself. "Victorians care about the cost of living, health, their children's education and $8 billion spent on a road they are not going to use." Speaking at a press conference after the vote, Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said Labor and Mr Shaw were "Victoria's newest coalition". "Today [Mr Shaw] has been embraced by Daniel Andrews and the Labor Party," Mr Ryan said.

He said Labor's backflip on Mr Shaw's expulsion showed that Mr Andrews could not be trusted.



"We have no intention of having anything to do with Mr Shaw." He said the government would not pursue any further punishment for Mr Shaw. "We have drawn a line under it today," Mr Ryan said.