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Outbreaks of Victorian Liberal Party infighting have been so regular,you can just about set your watch to them.

The latest outburst of infighting, inspired by exiled MP Moira Deeming and her band of supporters, has once again focused the national spotlight on the under-performing Victorian Liberal division which has won just one state election since 1996.

What is so galling to Liberal supporters indeed all voters who care about good government is that the public blue is occurring at a time when the Andrews government deserves scrutiny.

This month's state budget will be a horror show full of cuts, casting a spotlight over management of the state's finances, whilethe Premier's integrity is also under scrutiny by state watchdogs.

But once again, the Victorian Liberals are talking about themselves, capturing media attention, and providing an entertaining blood sport for political junkies.

The origin of this latest chaos goes back six weeks, when Ms Deeming was suspended by the party room over links to an anti-trans rights rally, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

At the time, Pesutto wanted to expel the MP for bringing the party into disrepute. It was a bid to signal to Victorians that he was serious about bringing his side back to the centre.

Pesutto has to wear some of the blame for the current chaos. His handling of the Deeming expulsion motion was botched and lacked a clear argument with authority.

"The leader's job is to hold the party together, on that he has failed,'' a senior Liberal MP said.

But Deeming's decision to sue Pesutto this week has rallied support behind the leader and has emboldened MPs to take on Deeming and her supporters, who have attacked Pesutto's leadership at every chance.

"You can't have a situation where someone is suing the leader,'' the same MP said.

Deeming is unlikely to ever rejoin the party room, with a new expulsion motion to be circulated as early as today.

So, could this be the moment the party resets?

There are some in the Liberal Party community who are hoping that this crisis may provide the opportunity for the leader and broader party to set a new tone by cleaning the party up and focusing on issues that actually matter to Victorians, like the parlous state of the budget.

"This is a real problem, not just a political problem because we have a bad government and we're not holding them to account,'' a senior Liberal said a view shared by multiple Liberals who spoke to the ABC.

A reset may be wishful thinking.

There's been a culture of leaking and undermining the leader that stretches back to when Ted Baillieu was brought down as premier some of those malcontents remain in the state parliament and are part of the reason for this current crisis.

"Matthew [Guy] had many chances, [Michael] O'Brien was given half a chance, they haven't given John any chance,'' one senior Liberal MP said.

This is the 'enough is enough' moment. And MPs made that clear at parliament this week.

"There are three or four terrorists who care more about blowing up the Liberal Party than they do Daniel Andrews,'' frontbencher James Newbury said.

"They are holding the Liberal Party hostage; they need to work out whether they're Liberals or whether they want to sit on the crossbench."

Pesutto has made similar, but less colourful statements.

It poses the question: Why are some MPs in public life? Is it to serve their communities? Hold the government to account and present a viable alternative? Or is it just to pursue personal projects while getting paid at least $192,115 a year on the backbench?

Despite the party's long stint out of power, there appears to be a group of MPs content with opposition who like the lifestyle of being a MP, rather than working hard to force a change of government.

There are also Labor MPs who take a similar attitude, but being in government means its less obvious, or damaging.

A constant concern for Liberals is that the party is willing to preselect candidates who are prominent on specific issues, often on the fringe of what matters in state politics.

Deeming is a case in point.

"She's an activist and she's failed to make the transition to MP,'' oneMP said.

It means that their views are blinkered to wider issues, which is what is required for a party of government.

Part of this problem is that preselection processes are often dominated by culture-war issues which don't win large slabs of votes. Voters are usually interested in issues like the cost of living, the health system and schools.

Branch members have huge sway on preselection and sometimes what they view as important issues don't reflect the realities of government.

"To be electable requires compromise, too many that we pick are activists,'' a senior figure said.

Some MPs want the preselection overhauled, which will set them on a collision course with the membership, who cherish their voting rights.

Also on the cards, a federal intervention of the Victorian division.

This would be a takeover of the party's state administration, which has been riven by factionalism and a lack of professionalism for years.

On Friday, federal leader Peter Dutton did not rule out an intervention into the Victorian branch.

There are no powers to intervene in the state's parliamentary party room, because that is the domain of the elected state MPs.

An intervention would be resisted in some quarters, especially given Dutton's standing with voters in the state.

Remember, this is a party that under his leadership broke records by losing a by-election in a "safe seat" just last month. It was the federal party that ran the Aston campaign.

Deeming is now unlikely to ever return to the party.

MPs are openly discussing expelling her, andmotion to expel Ms Deeming could be circulated as early as todaywith a vote by the end of the week.

"That's on the table, it's been reported publicly, but I'm going to be consulting with my colleagues on this," Pesutto told ABC News Breakfast on Friday.

Others want the party to go further and sanction MP Renee Heath after she circulated an email that accused Pesutto of bullying her.

There are other MPs in their sights too, particularly those referred to as terrorists they're yet to be named publicly.

"It's time to take out the trash. This is going to be really ugly and we're going to see a lot of blood but something needs to change and we need to get rid of these extremists,'' an MP said.

More public fighting. Just like clockwork.

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Internal strife is threatening the Victorian Liberal Party, and now members are calling for a clean-out - ABC News