SA Liberal Party candidate says 'same-sex marriage is not real' and 'feminism is demonic'
Liberal Wright candidate Carston Woodhouse. (Supplied: SA Liberal Party)
In short:
"Shocking" and "extreme" views on homosexuality and feminism, by northern suburbs Liberal candidate Carston Woodhouse, have been shown to the media by the Labor Party.
Speaking on a religious podcast, Mr Woodhouse says "feminism is demonic" and "same-sex marriage isn't real".
Sitting Labor member Blair Boyer said the pre-selection process for Liberal candidates has been "shambolic".
Warning: This story contains content some readers might find distressing.
A Liberal candidate for the upcoming state election says "same-sex marriage is not real", "feminism is demonic," and has questioned what "demonic realms" might be opened up to the world when "you accept homosexuality".
Carston Woodhouse, candidate for the seat of Wright in Adelaide's northern suburbs, has participated in several episodes of the evangelical American religious 'ElijahFire' podcast.
His candidate introduction on the Liberal Party website makes no mention of his views.
Sitting member for Wright, Blair Boyer held a press conference on Wednesday, airing the comments, which he called "shocking" and "extreme".
In a recording played to the media, Mr Woodhouse is heard saying: "There's this whole reality pretending that same-sex marriage is real — it's not, it ignores decades of the reality of observations that marriage is between a man and a woman".
Liberal candidate for Wright Carston Woodhouse speaking on the ElijahFire podcast in a screenshot of a video posted to YouTube.
"Who knows what demonic realms we have opened up to the world, to our self on the earth when you forsake it, when you accept homosexuality," he said.
Mr Woodhouse was also heard saying in a clip that, "feminism is demonic" and a woman shouldn't have rights to abortion if she were raped or a victim of incest.
"Even the whole rape, incest thing, I would agree with Charlie Kirk's take on that, if I had a crowd of people and one of those people was conceived in rape, could you tell me who it was? The answer is no", Mr Woodhouse said.
"Because that doesn't define a person's rights, I realise that's horrific, to experience those things ... but even then, you're still talking about a life."
Mr Boyer criticised the Liberal Party for not vetting its candidates.
"The ramifications of having such a shambolic pre-selection process, is that the SA Liberal Party does not have the time to do the proper vetting it should do," Mr Boyer said.
Labor's Blair Boyer raised concerns about his Liberal competitor for the seat of Wright in the upcoming state election. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)
"In this case, it was clearly not done.
"The people that hold those extreme views are now not just people on the fringes of a major political party like the SA Liberal party.
"They are people who are actually pre-selected candidates, for public office, at a state election."
Mr Boyer said he wanted South Australians to be aware of Mr Woodhouse's views before going to the polls.
"People aren't aware of it … I hope they become aware of it now, particularly perhaps if they live in the electorate of Wright," Mr Boyer said.
On Mr Woodhouse's candidate page it states he is a "strong, principled and community-minded with a proven track record of success across diverse industries as well as a deep commitment to service".
When asked whether he was releasing the information after days of scrutiny on Health Minister Chris Picton's office for using personal information to "background" journalists ahead of the publication of stories, Mr Boyer replied, "we are releasing it now because we have it all checked in a form that we can present that we know is accurate and true".
On Wednesday afternoon Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said she didn't share Mr Woodhouse's views.
"They're not something that sits well with me," Ms Hurn said.
Liberal Party leader Ashton Hurn said she doesn't share Mr Woodhouse's views but said the Liberals are a party with a broad range of views. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
"Carston's put those views out there, I don't share them, but we're just focused on working together, across the political 47 seats, to make sure we're presenting South Australia about our positive plan."
"It'll be up to the voters to reflect on people's individual views, that'll be a matter for the voters."
Ms Hurn said across political parties, there are often differing views on topics.
"He's allowed to have his views," the Liberal leader said.
"I'm not going to stop someone from having an opinion."
Ms Hurn said she had met Mr Woodhouse, but did not answer specifically whether she would be out campaigning with him in the seat of Wright.