Prime Minister Scott Morrison is sticking by his controversial pick for the seat of Warringah after the NSW Treasurer said "she's got to go" over her comments about transgender people.
New South Wales Treasurer Matt Kean has called on Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves to be disendorsed over a series of comments she made online.
Ms Deves has apologised on multiple occasions this week, including after revelations she likened her lobbying to stop transgender athletes from competing in women's sport to standing up against the Holocaust.
Ms Deves is the hand-picked Liberal in the seat once held by former prime minister Tony Abbott. She was pre-selected at the last minute after bitter factional infighting within the party.
Mr Kean, who is a leader of the moderate faction in New South Wales, told the ABC there should be no room for her views inside the Liberal Party.
"She's got to go," Mr Kean said.
"There is no place for that vile bigotry in a mainstream political party or quite frankly anywhere.
"I am sick of people turning a blind eye to it."
Mr Morrison said he was not going to join a "pile-on" when asked about Mr Kean's comments while on the campaign trail on Saturday.
"She has learned from her experiences and she has sought to deal with the issues in the past, and I have no doubt she will pursue these issues in a more sensitive way than in the past," Mr Morrison said.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott told the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday "I very much admire her and can’t understand the pile-on from people who claim to be supporters of women's rights".
Mr Morrison said he shared Mr Abbott's view.
"I don't share Matt [Kean's] view. I share Tony Abbott's view," he said.
Apology for 'unacceptable' comments
Ms Deves has apologised for any hurt caused by her comments and admitted her comments have "on occasion been unacceptable".
"I've always loved 20th-century history and I think many people would say to themselves, 'I'd never been to villages that stayed quiet, while the trains went past or whatever, I would have been part of the French Resistance, the underground, you know, I would be one of those people'," Ms Deves said in a YouTube video.
"And when all of this was happening, and no-one was sort of speaking out, I thought, this is it.
"And it might come at a cost to me, but I have to say it."
Views shared, deleted, condemned
When asked about her views earlier this week and before the video was reported on, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Ms Deves raised "important issues and he "shares" her views.
On Wednesday afternoon, once separate reports of Ms Deves's deleted online comments emerged, Mr Morrison was asked which of her views he shared.
He said Ms Deves had apologised and he explained he supported the views of a private member's bill put forward by Tasmanian senator Claire Chandler.
Zali Stegall, the current independent member for Warringah, earlier this week said her electoral opponent should be disendorsed, labelling the comments "ill-informed and offensive".
At the last election, old social media posts haunted candidates across the political divide.
A Liberal review of the last election recommended that aspiring politicians be trained at "candidate colleges" in a bid to prevent embarrassing disendorsements in the future.
