South Australia’s Liberals have dumped a controversial candidate Carston Woodhouse, who described homosexuality and feminism as “demonic”,  just a week out from the state election.

SA party leader Ashton Hurn said on Thursday that Woodhouse was no longer the Liberal candidate for Wright – the seat of Education Minister Blair Boyer.

Woodhouse had been embroiled in controversy after his comments that homosexuality and feminism are “demonic” – made in American religious podcast Elijahfire in July 2025 – were made public by Boyer this week.

Labor also criticised Woodhouse for saying penalties for the Nazi salute penalty were “crazy” and that Islam is “poisonous and wrong”.

“He’s no longer the candidate for the Liberal Party,” Hurn said.

“I don’t support any of the views that I’ve seen reported in the media today, but he is no longer the candidate.”

Hurn did not say if Woodhouse had been disendorsed or had resigned. She said he remained employed by the party.

“I’ve spoken to Carston, and he will no longer be the candidate. I’ve made that pretty clear, and here we are,” she said.

“At the end of the day, I’m just focused on what I can do as leader of the parliamentary team to make sure that South Australians know exactly what we stand for.

Hurn said people were entitled to their views, but she did not share Woodhouse’s.

“What I would say is that whilst I’ve dealt with this matter really decisively, [Premier] Peter Malinauskas on the other hand, hasn’t dealt with Chris Picton decisively,” she said.

“It has been days since the Premier has addressed this matter. We know that over the last few days, we have seen story after story about some really concerning issues within the health system, in particular relating to the leaking and the backgrounding of specific medical information.”

State Health Minister Chris Picton has been under fire over a leaked email that revealed patients’ confidential information.

Malinauskas said earlier this week that he wouldn’t accept Picton’s resignation even if it was offered. Picton has apologised “unreservedly” for the leaked email.

SA Liberal director Alex Hyde said he met Woodhouse, who agreed to withdraw but would “not shirk from his deeply held views”.

“I met with the candidate for Wright, Carston Woodhouse, and discussed the need for our campaign to remain focused on our policy priorities of affordability, healthcare and crime,” Hyde said.

“As a result of being asked to step down, and in support of our team and campaign remaining focused, Mr Woodhouse does not shirk from his deeply held views and wants to see the Liberal Party succeed in the election and hold this terrible Labor government to account.”

InDaily reports that Woodhouse was one of many candidates recruited from right-leaning religious communities spearheaded by South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic.

“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 of the state’s federal Liberal politicians) new recruits who in no way accord or represent modern mainstream values and continue to make the party unelectable,” a Liberal insider said.

“Just to further exaggerate the decline, they turn up holding these fringe and offensive views [and] being employed within the party’s administration.

“With friends like Antic and Pasin and their operatives throughout the party, Ashton and her team don’t need any enemies.”

Hurn refused to comment on the allegations.

Antic said South Australian media was behind an “almighty pile-on” on Woodhouse, and the Liberals “might as well shut the doors” on the state election.

“This is the party in this country, which apparently stands for freedom of thought, worship and speech and association,” he said.

“I haven’t read what this guy [Woodhouse] has said, frankly, because I don’t care about anything that’s written in the media in South Australia.

“But I’ll say this, 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.”

The South Australian election is on March 21.

Republished from InDaily