‘Unelectable’: Liberal insider says controversial candidates are not alone
More “extreme views” of homophobia from a Liberal candidate emerged today, with Labor minister Blair Boyer calling on the Libs to take a stand. Labor faced its own questions over Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis preferencing conservative parties over The Greens.
Labor spokesperson Blair Boyer told reporters today that Liberal Leader Ashton Hurn had to take a stand against “extreme views” of homophobia and islamophobia put forward by his opponent in the seat of Wright, Carson Woodhouse.
Woodhouse has made comments claiming homosexuality and feminism were “demonic” in an Elijahfire podcast in July 2025. Boyer pointed to other comments made by Woodhouse about the Nazi salute penalty being “crazy” and that Islam was “poisonous and wrong”.
But a Liberal insider told InDaily it was not that simple, and Woodhouse is just one of a range of candidates recruited from similar right-leaning religious communities spearheaded by Liberal senator Alex Antic.
Woodhouse is reportedly a pastor for the Field of Dreams Church based in Adelaide and runs home group sessions in the Adelaide Hills. He is also a Liberal party employee.
“It is so frustrating – unfortunately if this election isn’t hard enough for Ashton Hurn and the Liberal Party it’s made far harder with the [Alex] Antic and [Tony] Pasin (two SA federal Liberal politicians) new recruits who in no way accord or represent modern mainstream values and continue to make the party unelectable,” a Liberal party insider said.
“And just to further exaggerate the decline they turn up holding these fringe and offensive views being employed within the party’s administration.
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“With friends like Antic and Pasin and their operatives throughout the party, Ashton and her team don’t need any enemies.”
Antic refused to comment. The Liberal Party did not provide a comment.
In his second press conference about Woodhouse this week, Boyer said that he had to grapple with the “proliferation of far right parties” when organising voting arrangements, but that cases where Labor has preferenced far right parties like Family First above the Greens were not the same.
In the seat of West Torrens, held by Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis, his ‘how to vote’ card in the lower house recommends ranking candidates from the conservative Family First and the Australia Family Party in the second and third spots, above the Greens in fourth. In the upper house, the Greens are preferenced second.
Family First’s national director Lyle Shelton said yesterday, “same sex marriages robs children of their rights and has turbo-charged gender fluid indoctrination of children in schools”.
Koutsantonis told InDaily his ‘how to vote’ card was not a values statement. He said it was about making voting easier and was a “moot point” because his preferences “are never distributed in West Torrens”.
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Koutsantonis has held the seat for 28 years and is SA Labor’s longest-serving MP.
The Treasurer said he had not met the Family First Candidate he was preferencing second and that he was the only candidate in West Torrens who lived in the electorate.
Boyer said “there are different how-to-vote arrangements in different seats” and that in the three elections he had run in, there were more far-right-aligned parties than he had ever seen.
“We have a Liberal Party which is clearly a far-right party now, the One Nation Party, which is right out there, the Family First Party, United Voice and the Australian Family Party are all at the absolute far right,” Boyer said.
“So people will sometimes say, ‘why have you not got all of these in last position?’ The truth is, you can’t have all of them in last position because there is only one last position.”
Greens leader Robert Simms said that it was “disappointing” to see far-right parties preferenced above the Greens in seats like West Torrens, but that how-to-vote cards were just a recommendation.
“Ultimately, how-to-votes are simply a suggestion; the voters determine their individual preferences.”
Simms said Woodhouse’s comments were “appalling and offensive” and “another sad reminder that the Liberal Party are turning their backs on mainstream voters and embracing the extreme right of SA politics”.
On Wednesday afternoon, Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said Woodhouse “is our candidate” and “I’m not going to stop someone from having an opinion”. Liberal Shadow Treasurer Ben Hood said candidates have a right to hold their own religious views.
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