‘She won’t win the seat’: Liberals dismayed as PM digs in on Deves

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has sided with Tony Abbott and refused to join a “pile on” calling for embattled Liberal candidate Katherine Deves to be axed as the party’s candidate in the formerly blue-ribbon seat of Warringah.

Furious lobbying is under way with the Liberal Party to have Deves axed from the ticket in Warringah and a replacement candidate named before April 21, which is the cut-off date.

A moderate member of the Liberal Party and opponent of Deves said that “she won’t win the seat and she will continue to take paint off us in seats we need to win”.

“I think the party and the leadership understand that she has to go but I don’t think the PM has recognised it yet.”

There is growing anxiety in Liberal ranks over Scott Morrison’s decision to keep backing Katherine Deves.Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean launched a blistering attack on Deves on Friday night, declaring she had to be dumped as the Liberal candidate for Warringah because of her comments about gender identity and LGBTQ issues.

“There should be no place for bigotry in a mainstream political party, let alone anywhere,” Kean told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“The Liberal Party should be about building a better country for everyone not dividing people based on their identity.”

But questioned by reporters on the growing controversy on Saturday, Morrison said: “I don’t share Matt’s view, I share Tony Abbott’s view, I’m not joining that pile on.”

“The comments that Katherine has made obviously were insensitive, and she’s admitted that,” he said.

“This is a woman standing up for women and girls in sport. That is the primary issue she has raised. There are ways she has expressed [that] in the past that she no longer feels comfortable with.”

Separately, Walter Villatora, a conservative power broker in the NSW Liberal Party who is close to former prime minister Tony Abbott and chaired his Warringah federal electoral council for a long time, said Liberal members want Deves gone.

“Presidents and many members are calling for Ms Deves resignation in light of her hurtful and divisive comments that have proliferated in the media,” he wrote.

“Particularly in the last few days, focusing on Nazis, sex offenders and the physical mutilation of young people.”

Behind the scenes, moderate Liberals are tearing their hair out about the series of incendiary statements made by Deves that have been unearthed in recent days, which she has repeatedly apologised for.

“There is serious angst about the damage this is doing. People are completely appalled by the comments she made and they recognise the damage this is doing to the party in other seats,” a second senior moderate, who asked not to be named so they could discuss the issue, said.

A third senior moderate said axing Deves was not straightforward because she was a “captain’s pick”, selected by a committee of three – Morrison, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former party president Chris McDiven – on the eve of the election.

“Losing her is not simple because of how she was picked,” the second moderate said. “The risk is if something else comes out [about Deves’ controversial views].”

Her selection for Warringah, along with the selection of 10 other candidates in seats across NSW, was left until the last minute after a drawn-out factional battle in the prime minister’s home state.

Few Liberals believe the party has any chance of reclaiming the seat of Warringah from independent Zali Steggall but, as the second moderate said, Deves’ candidacy was hurting moderate Liberals such as Trent Zimmerman and Dave Sharma in nearby seats.

Last week, Liberal Party federal vice-president Teena McQueen told The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age the Liberal Party was unlikely to regain Warringah from Steggall until Labor took office federally.

Abbott had called on the Liberal Party to stick with Deves in the seat he once held, praising her as a “tough, brave person who’s standing up for the rights of women and girls, for fairness in sport”.

“I very much admire her and can’t understand the pile on from people who claim to be supporters of women’s rights,” the former prime minister told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Friday.

Deves runs a lobby group, Save Women’s Sport, which is opposed to the inclusion of trans women in women’s sport.

In now deleted tweets, she called trans children “surgically mutilated and sterilised” and said she was triggered by the rainbow flag.

She also claimed “half of all males with trans identities are sex offenders”, which Equality Australia chief Anna Brown said was misinformation.

Deves also derided LGBTQ support initiative Wear It Purple Day as a “grooming tactic” aimed at children.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said on Saturday the Liberals should never have picked Deves as a candidate.

“And what is extraordinary is that Katherine Deves has been handpicked by the prime minister,” he said. “The prime minister earlier this week said that he shared Katherine Deves’ values in endorsing her yet again.”

Albanese was again forced to defend Labor’s candidate for Hunter, Dan Repacholi, over social media activity from some years ago including following a range of accounts with naked women posing with assault rifles.

“These are comments that were made a very, very long time ago by Mr Repacholi,” he said. “This candidate in Warringah, this has been her main political approach on these issues.”

Asked whether Deves should be disendorsed, Albanese said it was a “matter for the Liberal Party”.

“But if I was Scott Morrison, I wouldn’t have selected her in the first place,” he said.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.