The Liberal Party has dumped a Christian candidate for the upcoming South Australian state election over comments he made about Islam, so-called transgenderism and same-sex marriage, and feminism.
Liberal leader Ashton Hurn announced on Thursday that Carston Woodhouse was no longer the party’s candidate for Wright in Adelaide’s northeast after he was attacked by Labor, the taxpayer-funded ABC and the corporate media for statements he made on an evangelical Christian podcast in April last year.
“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,” said Ms Hurn, whose party is being outpolled by One Nation nine days out from the vote.
Mr Woodhouse’s comments included “feminism is demonic”, “same-sex marriage isn’t real”, and he told the podcast host: “You have to understand the insanity of the trans agenda, the fact that this is irreversible damage — this is not a game, it’s not like this cutesy thing that people can choose.
“You have to understand why Islam is poisonous and why it’s wrong, and what it actually believes.”
The news that Carston Woodhouse will no longer be our Candidate for Wright is very disappointing.
How can we claim to be the party of free speech, thought, worship and association when we continue to allow our people to be sacrificed to the swamp for voicing their views?
— Senator Alex Antic (@SenatorAntic) March 12, 2026
South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic responded to the axing by slamming his own party in a post on X.
“The news that Carston Woodhouse will no longer be our Candidate for Wright is very disappointing. How can we claim to be the party of free speech, thought, worship and association when we continue to allow our people to be sacrificed to the swamp for voicing their views?” he wrote.
Mr Antic was the only Liberal senator to vote against Labor’s most recent “hate speech” and “hate groups” legislation, and his party has consistently passed and supported similar laws at both state and federal levels over the past three years, most recently in Queensland.
According to the latest polling the Liberal Party is facing a complete wipeout in metropolitan Adelaide, and could end up with fewer than five seats in South Australian after the March 21 election.
A Roy Morgan poll from late February had Labor on 35% of the primary vote, One Nation on 28%, and the Liberals on 16.5%, mirroring results in other states and nationwide where conservative voters have flocked to Pauline Hanson’s party due to the Coalition’s weak stance on mass immigration.
Header image: Carston Woodhouse (SA Liberal Party).
