Controversial failed Liberal candidate Katherine Deves has dug herself another hole in a trainwreck interview about her newfound political aspirations.
Ms Deves was thrashed in last year’s federal election in Tony Abbott’s old seat of Warringah by independent Zali Steggall after a disastrous campaign.
Her bid took a turn for the worse early on when old transphobic tweets were unearthed, and never recovered after she refused to apologise.
Despite her catastrophic failure to regain the blue ribbon seat, Ms. Deves threw her hat into the ring to replace the late Senator Jim Molan.
The Liberal Party can nominate a successor to fill Major General Molan’s seat after his death on January 16, who would then defend it in the next election.
Ms Deves nominated herself for the vacancy with the announcement opening her up to a brutal grilling on Sky News about her suitability for parliament.
“You have insulted transgender children and their parents, you have had to apologize to the Jewish community, you have even had to visit the Sydney Holocaust Museum after making Nazi comparisons,” she was asked.
“Why on earth do you think you’d be the best person to replace the highly respected and beloved Senator Jim Molan?”
Mrs. Deves attempted to compare herself to General Molan, noting that they were both Conservative politicians.
“He had a very impressive career in the military. I read his book,” she said.
“In terms of what I think I could bring to the table, well, I’m a strong conservative woman…I can show the people I would be representing that I was going to fight there.
And I echo some of the values that Jim had, especially around issues like, you know, defending our freedom of speech, defending our great nation, championing ambitious Australian families and championing healthy mind.’
Controversial failed Liberal candidate Katherine Deves has dug herself another hole in a trainwreck interview about her new political aspirations
Despite failing to regain the blue ribbon seat, Ms. Deves threw her hat into the ring to replace the late Senator Jim Molan
General Molan was a controversial MP after being charged with war crimes during the 2004 Iraq War, which he strongly denied.
He was in command of local coalition forces when the city of Fallujah was surrounded and heavily bombed, causing many civilian casualties and earning him the nickname ‘The Butcher of Fallujah’.
He then shared anti-Islam content from the far-right group Britain First in 2017, but denied that the videos were racist.
Ms Deves said attending the Sydney Holocaust Museum was an “incredibly moving and memorable experience” but was told to go alone because she posted an abusive tweet.
Her comments were actually part of a panel discussion, not a tweet, in 2021, comparing her anti-trans activism to opposition to the Nazi occupation of France.
Ms. Deves tried to explain that she was “discussing the rise of fascist regimes” and how their “deeply authoritarian and socialist ideologies are invading our societies.”
She admitted it was a “deeply inappropriate” analogy and she was grateful that the Jewish community showed her she was wrong.
“I’m not apologizing, but I learned it was the absolute wrong thing to do and I repented and apologised,” she said.
Katherine Deves stood for the seat of Warringah in the last election and was defeated after her transphobic tweets came to the fore calling transgender children ‘mutilated’, among other controversial statements
Ms Deves again defended the anti-transgender views that sank her political campaign.
She argued that there was nothing “divisive” about saying “men cannot be women, and that biological sex matters in certain circumstances and that women and girls have a right to privacy, dignity and security in certain contexts.”
But the interviewer argued that Ms. Deves went too far with her wild claims which sparked widespread outrage.
“A lot of people stand up for women’s rights without going a step further and offending people,” she said.
Ms Deves insisted that her campaign for Warringah was supported by ‘thousands of people’ from ‘all over NSW, Australia, indeed the world’.
This was despite her loss to Olympic medalist Ms. Steggall 60.96 percent to 39.04 percent in the election, after preferences.
Her primary vote was just 33.35 per cent, 5.66 per cent away from the Liberals compared to when Mr Abbott lost the seat in 2019.
The frontrunner to replace General Molan, Catholic Schools NSW boss Dallas McInerney withdrew two weeks ago, leaving former NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance on the likely roster.
