‘Renee is not her family’: Guy defends new Liberal candidate

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has defended his newest candidate for a safe upper house seat as a professional woman who should be judged on her own views and not her father’s connections to a conservative church accused of historic links to gay conversion practices.

Renee Heath is a Gippsland chiropractor who narrowly beat Cathrine Burnett-Wake to the No.1 spot on the Liberal Party ticket for the Eastern Victorian Region on Sunday, winning 55 votes to 53.

Burnett-Wake has been in parliament since December when she replaced Edward O’Donohue. In the lead-up to that preselection, several Liberal officials raised concerns about Heath’s family connection to the conservative City Builders Church, which has been accused of encouraging members of its congregation to take part in the Living Waters Program, an externally run gay conversion therapy that has since closed.

“Renee is not her father, Renee is not her uncle, Renee is not her family, Renee is herself,” Guy said. “She’s a professional woman, she’s in the health field, she’s a professional person. I’ll ask people to judge Renee by Renee and not by anyone else.”

Liberal sources have said Heath, whose background is in science, does not support gay conversion therapy and did not pitch herself as a candidate attempting to wind back the Coalition’s progressive agenda on improving gay rights.

Heath declined to comment, citing Liberal Party rules.

Guy has been pushing to present a more progressive face at November’s state election, including announcing plans to legislate a 2030 target to halve emissions and reach net zero by 2050. His equality spokesman, James Newbury, has also given an “iron-clad guarantee” not to amend laws banning gay conversion therapy that make it illegal to try to suppress or change an LGBTQ person’s gender or sexuality, including through faith.

Matthew Guy has defended Renee Heath as a “professional woman in the health field” who should not be judged based on her father’s church.Credit: Joe Armao

Guy has been under pressure in the past week after the party preselected an anti-abortion candidate to replace conservative MP Bernie Finn in the top position for the Western Metropolitan Region.

Melton councillor Moira Deeming in 2016 claimed the Safe Schools program aimed at preventing bullying against LGBTQ children was “sleazy, unnecessary drivel”, and last year said abortion was a “terrible evil”. She was deemed too risky to run as part of former prime minister Scott Morrison’s election team this year.

When questioned on Friday, Guy said: “I’m not interested in comments [Deeming’s] made in the past. I’m interested in what she’s doing as a candidate ... When did she post these comments? 2020? You’re asking me about a post in 2020? Give me a break.”

Last Sunday, the party preselected Evan Mulholland, from the right-leaning Institute of Public Affairs, who is a staunch critic of climate targets and efforts to boost renewable energy. He was chosen by branch members to contest the Northern Metropolitan Region at the November 26 election.

Gippsland-based Liberal member Christine Holland said while she was unable to attend Sunday’s eastern region preselection, she had been backing Heath, who “deeply understood the crisis in the healthcare system”.

“She has a good, fresh approach to what is happening and for modern politics,” Holland said. “It’s very wrong for people to make that connection [between her and her father’s church]. None of that has interfered with her attitudes; it’s just not relevant to the type of candidate she presented as.”

David Burgess, who unsuccessfully sought preselection for the seat of Nepean, will be put third on the Eastern Victorian Region ticket, behind the Nationals’ Melina Bath.

The Liberal Party was on Sunday finalising preselection of its upper house candidates for the November election. Bev McArthur, who was challenged by former Liberal MP Joshua Morris for the top position on the Western Victorian Region ticket, comfortably won on Saturday. Joe McCracken will join her as No.2 on the ticket.

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