Baillieu makes tearful Asher flee

DEPUTY Liberal leader Louise Asher is believed to have broken down during a party-room meeting convened by Ted Baillieu after she slept through a vote in Parliament, storming out after accusing the Premier of ''humiliating'' her.

Ms Asher was forced to apologise to colleagues after she became the second government MP in a week to miss a vote in the lower house .

The Innovation Minister had fallen asleep in her office during a late-night parliamentary session, and did not wake despite the loud bells that ring throughout the building to alert MPs whenever a division is taking place.

Mr Baillieu was unhappy that another vote had been missed, only days after Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge failed to turn up to a division, according to a participant in the party-room meeting.

At the meeting, the Premier again reminded MPs that they could not afford to be absent given the government's slim majority. But a teary and visibly upset Ms Asher is said to have stunned colleagues by storming out and telling Mr Baillieu: ''You didn't have to humiliate me like that.''

Ms Asher did not confirm or deny the incident when contacted by The Sunday Age.

The government's performance in recent weeks has fuelled opposition claims it is ''asleep at the wheel'' and some within the Coalition's own ranks have also raised concerns.

''These are senior ministers and we have a majority coalition government, yet we are not able to have confidence in our ability to get our legislative agenda through,'' a Coalition source told The Sunday Age.

Similar warnings had been issued by the Premier only days earlier, after Ms Wooldridge got caught up in a meeting with department staff and also missed a vote, resulting in the initial defeat of the government's contentious equal opportunity bill.

The vote Ms Asher missed was on whether to adjourn debate on the Coalition's first budget. She was eventually woken by colleagues and the vote was taken again and succeeded about 15 minutes later.