On Wednesday South Australian Liberal leader was defending state election candidate Carston Woodhouse, but 24-hours is a long time in politics and today the candidate was dumped by the party.
Attention was drawn to the Liberal staffer and Christian pastor who was running for the seat of Wright in Adelaide’s north after multiple comments he’d made in videos and podcasts were highlighted by the incumbent Labor member.
Woodhouse had spoken out against people who follow Islam, said acceptance of homosexuality could open “demonic realms” and that feminism as also “demonic”. He also spoke out against same-sex marriage and people who transition gender.
Additionally he had shared his view that women who are pregnant through rape or incest should be forced to carry babies to term because he is completely against any form of abortion.
On Wednesday Liberal leader Ashton Hurn was defending his right to hold his views, although she said she did not necessarily agree with his positions.
As more of his comments came to light, including a claim that he’d seen “witches melt” when exposed to biblical teachings, pressure on the Liberal leader to dump the candidate grew.
“I’ve also seen people do crazy things with supernatural love where they’ve hugged witches that have come into church services and hugged them and watched them melt,” he said in a 2025 podcast.
By Thursday afternoon Hurn had changed her mind.
“I stood here yesterday and made myself clear that I did not support the comments made by a particular candidate, that remains true today and that person is no longer a candidate for the Liberal Party,” Hurn told reporters.
The selection of Woodhouse as a candidate has been attributed to the influence of federal senator Alex Antic and colleague Tony Passin who have been credited with attracting many people from fundamentalist Christian groups to the party.
Today Antic expressed his disbelief that Woodhouse had been disendorsed, but said he’d not seen any of the comments that had caused the furor.
“This is the party in this country which apparently stands for freedom of thought, worship and speech and association,” Antic said in a Senate speech.
“I haven’t read what this guy has said, frankly, because I don’t care about anything that’s written in the media in South Australia.
“If this guy is disendorsed, or if he feels compelled to leave, we might as well shut the doors on this election with one week to go.” Antic told the federal parliament.
Senator Antic said the Australian media was “wholly owned by the radical left in this nation.” and disputed reporting from some outlets yesterday that reported he had not commented on the issue. Senator Antic said he had sent a message back to reporters who reached out to him that read, “Reading your text wasted valuable seconds of my life, and now I am wasting even more by responding.”
WA Labor MP John Carey says Western Australian Liberals hold similar views
Western Australian Labor MP John Carey has shared his thoughts on the controversy, accusing members of the Western Australian Liberal party of holding similar views.
“Think these kinds of extreme views aren’t held by the WA Liberals? Think again.” Carey said in a social media post.
“There are dozens of examples where current WA Liberal MPs have put on the record these type of extreme views.
“And the WA Liberal Leader Basil Zemplias, who has his own very chequered history with outdated views about women and the LGBQTIA+ community, says nothing and continues to back them in.
Carey said the WA Labor government led by Roger Cook was focussed on the important issues.
“While we are focussed on jobs, health, and housing, the Liberals continue to stoke irrelevant culture wars.”
