One Nation Reveals NSW Upper House Candidates Including Katherine Deves

Katherine Deves, the unsuccessful federal Liberal candidate who campaigned to exclude transgender women from women’s sport, will stand for One Nation at next year’s New South Wales election.

Deves was among four candidates for the NSW Legislative Council announced by One Nation state leader Mike Newman on Sunday.

The other candidates were Arnon Wither, a construction worker from the Hunter region who works as an electorate officer for Senator Sean Bell; Manti Steele, a farmer, teacher and mother of eight from Dubbo; and Daniel Hill, a surf lifesaver from the state’s south coast.

The NSW election will be held on 13 March.

Newman said on Sunday that the upper house candidates were “authentic,” “people from the real world” and not “career politicians.”

One Nation has so far announced only a single lower house candidate—Newman, in the electorate of Cessnock—but the party plans to run candidates in all 93 lower house seats.

“We want to make sure these people bleed orange,” Newman said. “As I said, they’re all from the real world.”

“That’s the type of person we’re aiming at,” he added. “People from the real world who understand business, who understand their pinch points and pain points, understand the cost of living, understand cashflow.”

Deves was selected by former prime minister Scott Morrison to run in the federal NSW seat of Warringah in 2022. Her candidacy was marred by controversy, including when she likened anti-trans activism to standing up against the Holocaust.

On Sunday, Deves said she joined One Nation “because I wanted to be a part of the rescue, recovery, and restoration of our nation.”

“We are seeing the cost of living skyrocket, whether it’s fuel, housing, or energy, and we are watching a government so wedded to destructive ideologies like DEI and net zero that it is prepared to impoverish us all,” she said.

If elected, she would seek changes to state laws regarding “discrimination, hate speech, vilification, birth certificates, etc.”

“Where we can restore clear and accurate language around biological sex, men and women, and ensure that women and girls are safe and have spaces for services, sports, etc., where it is inappropriate for males to be there,” she said.

One Nation has required candidates at state elections to sign non-disclosure agreements preventing them from discussing their potential candidacy with the media.

News24 reported last month that Deves would run as an upper house candidate in the NSW election. She announced she joined One Nation in September.

When Guardian Australia contacted Deves in October about her potential candidacy, she directed inquiries to Vikki Campion, the NSW party’s part-time media adviser. The party provided a statement saying it had confirmed only three candidates at that time: Newman, the lead upper house candidate, Stuart Bonds, and Tamworth firearms manufacturer Jeff Bacon.

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