Warringah Liberal candidate Katherine Deves won’t be ‘pushed aside, silenced’: Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison has offered a fierce rebuttal to the calls for embattled for Liberal Warringah candidate Katherine Deves to be disendorsed.

Katherine Deves has faced calls to be removed as the Liberal candidate for Warringah. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

Scott Morrison has offered a fierce rebuttal to the calls for embattled for Liberal Warringah candidate Katherine Deves to be disendorsed, saying he will not “allow her to be pushed aside as the pile on comes in to try and silence her”.

Senior Liberal moderates, including powerbrokers North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman and NSW Treasurer Matt Kean, have intensified calls for Ms Deves – one of the Prime Minister’s nine “captain’s picks” – to be removed as the Liberal’s candidate for Tony Abbott’s former seat.

Ms Deves has faced unrelenting pressure for saying transgender children are being “surgically mutilated” and comparing the treatment of people who don’t support teenagers transitioning to the “Grudge trials of the Third Reich”.

But Mr Morrison came to his hand-picked candidate’s aid, underlining his steadfast commitment to ensuring she would run at the looming federal election, as he emphasised her previous apologies.

“She is a woman, standing up for women, and girls and their access to fair sport in this country. I’m not going to allow her to be silenced, I’m not going to allow her to be pushed aside as the pile on comes in to try and silence her,” Mr Morrison told reporters on Tuesday.

“I will stand up with her, my team is standing up with her, and we will make sure that she won’t be silenced.”

Reports revealed Mr Zimmerman – battling to hold onto his seat against Kylea Tink, a progressive independent candidate – had asked the Prime Minister’s Office to dump Ms Deves in response to her views on transgenderism.

It followed Mr Kean, who publicly slammed his potential Liberal colleague, saying there is “no place in a mainstream political party for bigotry”.

On Monday, Ms Deves broke her silence to slam the “vile” criticism of her and declared she is “unequivocally committed” to running in the upcoming federal election.

“My opponents, parts of the left media and twittersphere have been unrelenting in calling for me to be disendorsed, because of past statements,” she wrote in an email to party members.

“I have been bullied in the most vile way and received death threats. I’m not going anywhere, as the Prime Minister said yesterday.”

Under an avalanche of pressure, Ms Deves has offered repeated, separate apologies for her comments: firstly for describing trans kids as “surgically mutilated and sterilised”; then a second after comparing anti-trans activism to resistance against the Nazis.

In her first apology, she said: “In my dedication to fighting for the rights of women and girls, my language has on occasion been unacceptable.

“It has hurt people, and detracted from my arguments. I apologise for such language and the hurt that I have caused. I commit to continuing the fight for the safety of girls and women in a respectful way.”

Mr Deves has pulled out of a community Q&A in Sydney’s northern beaches.

In an email sent out to Manly residents and business owners, Manly Community Forum co-chairman Ray Mathieson said Warringah MP Zali Steggall and Liberal candidate Katherine Deves had confirmed they would attend the event to discuss key local issues.

“We will conduct a Federal Election Forum and Q&A with the major candidates for next month’s federal election for the seat of Warringah. That includes sitting MP Independent (Zali Steggal), Liberal candidate (Ms Deves) and Greens candidate (Kristyn Glanville),” the email said.

But on Tuesday, representatives for Ms Deves confirmed she would not attend.