Foreign Minister Marise Payne has declined to endorse a controversial candidate for the Liberals, handpicked by the Prime Minister, as the party's New South Wales factional war breaks into the federal election campaign.
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Scott Morrison backed his pick for the seat of Warringah, Katherine Deves, this week after she was forced to apologise and retract graphic language she used to describe transgender people characterised as hateful, bigoted and damaging to transgender youth.
In an uncomfortable exchange on ABC's Insiders on Sunday, Senator Payne repeatedly refused to answer whether she supported Ms Deves remaining as the Liberal candidate.
"It is a matter for the organisation in NSW. I need to get on with my job, that's what I'm doing. I don't agree with the remarks she made, I've made that explicitly clear," the minister said.
"I do believe there needs to be a discussion in relation to the participation of transgender in sport."
What differentiated Ms Deves from a disendorsed Liberal candidate in 2019 who was discovered to have authored anti-Muslim posts on social media was that the Warringah candidate had apologised, Senator Payne said.
"The Prime Minister said at the time these posts weren't disclosed to the Liberal Party. If you are not straight with the Liberal Party, the party reserves its right to disendorse."
Ms Morrison, in defending the continued candidacy of Ms Deves on Friday, said he hadn't called for others who said "insensitive things" to be dropped.
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NSW Treasurer Matt Kean on Friday called for Ms Deves to be disendorsed, saying her views are bigoted and offensive and had no place in the party.
Warringah in northern Sydney was a safe Liberal seat until independent Zali Steggall won it from former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019.
There is wide belief within the party that Ms Deves cannot now win the seat back for the Liberals, and the Prime Minister is holding firm in supporting her to avoid further damage to him personally over his role in selecting her.
Liberal MPs fought a bareknuckle court battle all the way to the High Court over the right to choose candidates with the Prime Minister's faction defeating the state executive to handpick candidates, including in Warringah, as well as guaranteeing sitting MPs would remain the Liberal candidate.
The comments of Mr Kean, and Senator Payne's refusal to back the PM's pick, are seeds the Liberal's factional brawl has not been resolved internally.
Scott Morrison has announced Anne Ruston as his new health minister to replace Greg Hunt who is retiring from politics.
Senator Ruston, who is currently the social services minister, has historically been a member of the moderates led by ministers Paul Fletcher, Marise Payne and Simon Birmingham, but she has also been an ally of the Prime Minister in the last term of parliament.
Harley Dennett
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
