SA government attributes email to wrong man after death, traumatising family<\/a><\/p>\n The SA government “traumatises” a grieving family on the anniversary of a loved one’s death.<\/p>\n Days of negative headlines followed, across media outlets and Health Minister Chris Picton faced calls to resign<\/a>.<\/p>\n For perhaps the first time since the 2022 election, Labor was in serious damage control over what it admitted was a major error of judgement \u2014 apologising repeatedly in an attempt to make the problem go away.<\/p>\n For an opposition on the brink, languishing in third spot in the polls and quickly running out of time to turn things around, Labor’s scandal looked like the shot-in-the-arm the Liberals so desperately needed.<\/p>\n Yet, somehow, it was the Liberals in damage control by the end of the week.<\/p>\n Heat back on Liberals<\/p>\n Contentious comments made by a candidate in an unwinnable seat<\/a> \u2014 leading to either his resignation or disendorsement \u2014 and shifted the blowtorch back on the Liberals.<\/p>\n According to the now-former Liberal candidate for Wright, Islam is “poisonous and wrong” the “trans agenda” is “insanity”, feminism are “demonic” and “same-sex marriage isn’t real”.<\/p>\n Liberal candidate for Wright Carston Woodhouse (bottom left and right) speaking to ElijahFire podcast host Jeff Tharp. (YouTube: ElijahFire)<\/p>\n The comments were made by Carston Woodhouse, also a contract employee at Liberal HQ, on the American evangelical Christian podcast ElijahFire.<\/p>\n They weren’t hard to find, for anyone who did some basic Googling.<\/p>\n A quick search and then a listen uncovered<\/a> remarks that were inevitably going to pose awkward questions for Liberal Leader Ashton Hurn about whether she agreed with them.<\/p>\n SA Liberal candidate steps down after ‘demonic’ feminism and ‘poisonous’ Islam comments<\/a><\/p>\n SA Liberal Leader Ashton Hurn says one of her candidates for the upcoming state election is no longer running for the party after comments he made on Islam, feminism, same-sex marriage and “the trans agenda”\u00a0 came to light from an American podcast.<\/p>\n Either the party didn’t do the most cursory of background checks before endorsing Mr Woodhouse, or it did and they picked him anyway.<\/p>\n When the inevitable awkward questions came at Ms Hurn, initially she tried to bat them away without giving Mr Woodhouse the flick.<\/p>\n “I do not share those views at all,” she said.<\/p>\n “He’s entitled to them. He’s a man of faith and that’s a matter for him.”<\/p>\n Twenty four hours later, after the ABC had exclusively revealed the “poisonous” comment about Islam<\/a> and his remarks about transgender people, the party finally conceded the situation was untenable.<\/p>\n Mr Woodhouse’s candidacy was over, although his contract at Liberal HQ continues.<\/p>\n Even the end of his candidacy, though, wasn’t straightforward.<\/p>\n For one, Ms Hurn wouldn’t say whether Mr Woodhouse had been dumped or resigned of his own accord.<\/p>\n And while Ms Hurn was in Adelaide trying to make the story go away, 12 hours up the highway in Canberra, conservative Liberal Senator Alex Antic unleashed.<\/p>\n Liberal Senator Alex Antic spoke out before Mr Woodhouse stepped down, saying the door “might as well” be shut on the election if he did. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)<\/p>\n “This is the party in this country which apparently stands for freedom of thought, worship, speech and association,” he told the Senate.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n What a difference a few days make.<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773410534_251_0875eb271d2dfb7e3a28d937fd2dbbe5.jpeg\")
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