One Nation has selected former Liberal candidate Katherine Deves for its Legislative Council ticket at the 2027 NSW election, bringing her back into electoral politics four years after her divisive campaign in Warringah.
NSW One Nation leader Mike Newman announced Deves alongside construction and mining worker Arnon Wither, Dubbo mother of eight Manti Steele and South Coast teacher Daniel Hill as the party’s latest upper house candidates.
Introducing the candidates on Sunday, Newman said the group represented “ordinary Australians” rather than established political figures.
“This is not a team of career politicians. This is a team that reflects our membership. This is a team that bleeds orange,” he said.
Deves was chosen by then-prime minister Scott Morrison to contest Warringah against independent MP Zali Steggall at the 2022 federal election.
Her campaign triggered a national controversy over social media comments about transgender women competing in sport, including a comparison between her advocacy and opposition to the Nazis. She later apologised for the comparison.
The four new candidates join lead Legislative Council contenders Stuart Bonds, a Singleton cattle farmer and coalminer, and Tamworth firearms manufacturer Jeff Bacon on One Nation’s upper house ticket.
Speaking at Sunday’s announcement, Deves attacked the expansion of the state bureaucracy and diversity policies, citing changes to NSW Parliament workplace guidance in October relating to breastfeeding and gendered language.
Former Warringah candidate Katherine Deves (pictured) will contest a place on the NSW One Nation Upper House ticket in 2027
Deves was chosen by then-prime minister Scott Morrison to take on independent MP Zali Steggall at the 2022 federal election
“Australian households are worrying about how they’re going to pay for Christmas, yet overpaid bureaucrats are debating whether men can breastfeed and become pregnant,” she said.
“There are laws covering anti-discrimination, hate speech, vilification and birth certificates where we can restore clear and accurate language around biological sex and ensure women and girls have safe spaces in services and sport.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns later stepped in and reversed the change after a backlash, describing the decision as a return to “commonsense”.
Newman said One Nation planned to field candidates in all 93 Legislative Assembly electorates at the March 2027 election, with its lower house candidates expected to be revealed over the coming months.
The election is scheduled for Saturday, March 13.
“We’ve had 900 candidates to process. There are a lot of people to get through,” he said.
The party’s upper house campaign is being led by Bonds, who caused controversy earlier this month when he told an anti-migration rally that Australians were “being demographically replaced inside our own nation”.
Premier Chris Minns condemned the comments as “frankly outrageous and racist”, arguing they were based on a conspiracy theory.
One Nation was mentioned 57 times in the NSW Parliament this week despite holding no seats
Labor is facing pressure in several traditionally safe seats across the Hunter and Central Coast, with Daily Mail understanding that the party’s internal polling indicates some of those electorates could be at risk.
Labor and Minns have repeatedly focused their attacks on One Nation in Parliament, despite the party holding no seats in either chamber of the NSW Parliament.
One Nation was mentioned around 57 times in the NSW Legislative Assembly across just three sitting days. Newman was referred to about 10 times, while Bonds was mentioned approximately 16 times as Labor stepped up its criticism ahead of the election.
A Resolve poll published this week placed One Nation’s primary vote at 25 per cent among NSW voters, behind Labor on 30 per cent.
The Coalition was in third position with 23 per cent.