Kevin Andrews denies he backed gay therapy

Kevin Andrews warns GetUp its claim he backed gay conversion therapy is defamatory.

Victorian Liberal MP Kevin ­Andrews. Picture: Sean Davey

Victorian Liberal MP Kevin ­Andrews has warned GetUp its claim that he “advocated for discredited, damaging and cruel gay conversion therapy” is defamatory, arguing that he has never spoken about the issue.

The left-wing group yesterday came under pressure for spreading inaccurate information and was forced to back away from its claims that Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was part of the coup against Malcolm Turnbull.

In “conversation guides”, GetUp supporters are ­encouraged to tell voters Mr Andrews is a supporter of “gay conversion therapy” as part of the campaign against him in the seat of Menzies.

Mr Andrews slammed the suggestion yesterday, telling The Australian: “The statement is defamatory. I have never spoken or written about the subject.”

GetUp has based its claim on media reports from last April, saying that a Young Liberal branch “linked to” Mr Andrews had put forward a motion for the Victorian state council promoting gay conversion therapy, but eventually withdrew the proposal.

Mr Andrews has denied any ­involvement or knowledge of the motion before reading about it in the press. But GetUp yesterday indicated it would not update its conversation guides unless Mr Andrews first came out to publicly condemn gay conversion therapy.

“If Kevin Andrews wishes to now correct the public record and offer his public opposition to the damaging practice of gay conversion therapy we will happily amend our script to voters in his electorate,” a spokesman for the activist group said.

“We will instead reference his long history of outdated and damaging views on the LGBTQI community.’’

Oliver Yates, the independent challenger to Mr Frydenberg in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong, has also stood by claims the Treasurer was involved in the coup against Mr Turnbull despite the ­allegation being abandoned by GetUp. Mr Yates, a former Liberal Party member, told The Australian that Mr Frydenberg should be “very clear about how he came to find himself in the role of Treasurer” given he was promoted from the energy portfolio after Scott Morrison became Prime Minister.

“How can someone who was immediately promoted after the removal of the prime minister, ­seriously claim that he had no role in the events which led up to it,” Mr Yates told The Australian.

“His claims that he had ‘no role’ have never been proven or disproven. The Liberal Party simply refuses to answer questions about the events. The people of Kooyong deserve a straight answer.”

Mr Frydenberg remained publicly loyal to Mr Turnbull in last year’s leadership spill and refused to sign the petition to bring on the partyroom meeting aimed at removing the then prime minister and to which 43 of his Liberal colleagues put their name.

He also remained publicly loyal to Tony Abbott in the 2015 leadership spill.