Victorian balance-of-power MP Geoff Shaw misused his taxpayer-funded car and fuel card. As an independent MP, he has sought to hold the Coalition government to ransom, threatening to bring his former party down. He now stands accused of bringing Parliament to a halt to defend his own career.

It’s not hard to argue that Victoria would be better off without Shaw in Parliament.

But the push to expel Shaw, an elected representative, from Parliament should be treated with caution. Unpleasant as he may be, the people voted him in, and the politicians should be very careful before they throw him out.

It would set an alarming precedent; that the major parties can gang up to remove a “difficult” elected representative from Parliament.

Yet that is the scenario being seriously canvassed by Victoria’s Labor opposition in the current crisis sweeping over that state’s delicate parliamentary balance.

There are only three sensible words for Victoria’s opposition leader Daniel Andrews as he contemplates this bizarre precedent: don’t do it.