Deves has been described as a "captain's pick" by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, for the once blue-ribbon seat of Warringah on Sydney's Northern Beaches.
She has been criticised for her views and public statements about transgender people,[1] and is a self-described anti-trans activist and TERF, or trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
[1] Before Deves' candidacy, infighting between the Liberal Party's moderate and conservative factions caused them to support disability advocate David Brady and defence analyst Lincoln Parker respective to be preselected for the Division of Warringah.
[4] Warringah had long been considered a safe Liberal seat, until independent candidate Zali Steggall beat former Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the 2019 election.
[4] Deves applied for Warringah preselection in February 2022, but had been rejected on the grounds that she hadn't been a Liberal Party member for long enough.
[4] In early April 2022, a repository of Deves' deleted tweets was uploaded to Github by a German computer programmer.
[7] Statements included the false claim that gender reassignment surgery was available to teenagers in Australia, and that anti-transgender activism was equivalent to "standing up against the Holocaust".
"[20] She also criticised Liberal Party members that had objected to her anti-trans comments, including Kean and Senators Simon Birmingham and Andrew Bragg, claiming their criticism of her hurt her chances of winning Warringah.
[22] Deves pulled out of the contest on 23 April, to focus on her legal defence for women-only social media platform Giggle for Girls founded by Sall Grover.
[25] In the same month, Deves spoke at an anti-transgender event at Parliament House, Sydney, which included Victorian MLC Moira Deeming, and New South Wales MLCs John Ruddick, Tania Mihailuk, and Greg Donnelly.
[31] Deves opposed "draconian"[4] COVID-19 policies implemented by the New South Wales Liberal Party, and called for the Prime Minister to "sort out the vaccine rollout".