In the leaked text,Perrottet expressed support to Morrison over the issue of transgender women competing in women’s sport and said that Morrison’s approach was backed by a majority of Australians.
This masthead has confirmed Perrottet told colleagues he was not the source of the leaked text between him and the prime minister and that he believed the issue of transgender athletes needed to be handled very sensitively.
Scott Morrison and Katherine Deves.Credit:James Brickwood,Supplied
On Wednesday,Perrottet said he didn’t know who had leaked the text exchange. A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office denied it was the source of the leaked text.
“I’m not getting into a discussion on text messages again. Text messages don’t seem to go away but the moral is don’t send text messages in a modern world,” Perrottet said,while confirming the content of his exchange with Morrison.
“My position is very clear ... as I have said to Scott,on the substantial aspect,the substantive nature of this issue,I agree with him,” he said.
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“I’ve made that very clear that I believe that girls should play sport against girls and women should play sport against women,but ultimately,as well,we in public as politicians,in the media,have an obligation in these areas of debate to participate in a way that is sensitive,particularly in areas that are incredibly delicate,and there are strong views on either side of the debate.”
On Kean,who hasled public calls for Deves to be disendorsed,putting him at odds with the premier,Perrottet said:“Matt has a view in relation to the candidate and the positions that she’s taken on things,or sorry I should actually say,the way that she has expressed those positions now. I actually agree with Matt on that point”.
Some in the Coalition believe Deves’ candidacy risks the chances of North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman and Wentworth MP Dave Sharma holding their seats against so-called ‘teal’ independents.
Perrottet,Morrison and former NSW Liberal Party president Christine McDiven comprised the three-person panel that selected Deves for the Sydney seat of Warringah,a formerly blue-ribbon seat that Tony Abbott lost to Zali Steggall in 2019.
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The latest leaking of text messages follows a damaging internal war within the Liberal Partyover preselections that ultimately was taken to the High Court,with senior party officials fearful about the effect of the delays on the election.
Last year,Morrison’s officewas accused of leaking text messages between the prime minister and French President Emmanuel Macron over the scrapped deal to buy French submarines.
That leak followed Macronaccusing Morrison of lying to him about whether the French submarine deal would go ahead,days before the AUKUS arrangement to buy nuclear submarines from the US and UK was announced.
Separately,Deputy Prime MinisterBarnaby Joyce accused Morrison of being “a hypocrite and a liar” in a text message sent on to Brittany Higgins a month after the former staffer’s rape claims exploded into the public arena.
And in aprivate text message exchange between Gladys Berejiklian and an unnamed Liberal cabinet member leaked earlier this year,the former NSW premier allegedly referred to Morrison as a “complete psycho” and a “horrible,horrible person”.
The latest text message leak appeared on the day Morrison will appear with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese in the first debate of the 2022 election campaign.
Deves has declared she is “not going anywhere” and accused her critics for “vile” bullying.
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