Morrison stands by Katherine Deves and wrongly claims ‘young adolescents’ can have gender confirmation surgery

Scott Morrison has claimed that “gender reversal surgery for young adolescents” is a “significant issue” – before conceding that gender confirmation is not available to children in Australia.

The prime minister made the remarks on Tuesday while responding tothe Liberal candidate Katherine Deves walking back her apology for offensive comments about transgender children. She insisted that “mutilation” was the correct terminology for gender reassignment surgery.

The Liberal candidate for Warringah, who has spent much of the campaign dodging the media, made the comments to Sky News on Monday – reframing her apology as limited to how people “might have perceived” her earlier anti-trans advocacy.

On Tuesday Morrison continued to stand by Deves, despite saying he “wouldn’t use” the term “mutilation”.

He told reporters in Sydney that “gender reversal surgery for young adolescents” was a “significant issue” that parents were “very concerned” about, appearing to conflate surgery with other treatments for gender dysphoria.

He was then forced to concede under questioning that people aged under 18 cannot undertake gender confirmation surgery in Australia.

Deves came under scrutiny in the early phase of the federal election campaign for social media comments describing trans children as “surgically mutilated and sterilised” and likening anti-trans activism to standing up against the Holocaust.

She then said in a statement that her “language has on occasion been unacceptable”.

“It has hurt people and detracted from my arguments,” she said. “I apologise for such language and the hurt that I have caused. I commit to continuing the fight for the safety of girls and women in a respectful way.”

Asked on Monday about use of the term “mutilation” to describe surgery on teenagers, Deves replied: “Look, that is actually the correct medico-legal term.

“It’s very emotive, it’s very confronting and it’s very ugly so of course people are going to be offended. But when you look at medical negligence cases, that is the terminology they use – it is also contained in the Crimes Act of NSW.”

The Crimes Act contains an offence of female genital mutilation but states that sexual reassignment performed by a medical practitioner is not an offence.

Asked to clarify if this meant she was not apologising for use of that language, Deves explained: “I’m apologising for how people might have perceived it, and the fact that it is confronting, and it is ugly, and I certainly don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But that is the correct terminology.”

LGBTQ advocates were quick to point out Deves’ contributions were offensive not just in the terms they’re expressed, but for factual inaccuracies about the availability of gender reassignment surgery:

On Tuesday Morrison said the issues Deves had commented on were “incredibly sensitive [and] very challenging”.

“We can’t pretend that this type of surgery is some minor procedure,” he said. “This is a very significant change to a young person’s life and it is often irreversible.”

According to the government’s HealthDirect website, gender confirmation surgery is only available for adults who have had gender dysphoria “for some time” – while others may be “comfortable to live with gender dysphoria or to have hormone therapy only”.

Asked why he and Deves had referred to adolescents when the surgery was not available to them, Morrison replied: “Even at any other stage, this is serious change”.

He added: “The process of discussions about gender reassignment – the surgical procedure can’t [occur in adolescence], but the process … by which these discussions commence and when issues of gender are being discussed with adolescents – that’s when a process can commence.”

Minutes after incorrectly asserting that “gender reversal surgery” was available to adolescents, Morrison claimed the government dealt with the issue “sensitively”.

In April Deves told SBS news she had been “chastened” by the reaction to her tweets but she also appeared to blame the social media platform for her own inflammatory comments.

“I recognise that trying to prosecute arguments on complex, difficult and nuanced subjects should not take place on a platform that propagates offence and division and hurt,” she said. “And going forward, I will be conducting myself within a dignified and respectful fashion.”

Morrison, who handpicked Deves to run just weeks out from the start of the campaign, has repeatedly defended the Warringah candidate by noting she had apologised for her remarks.

On Saturday he said: “In terms of what Katherine Deves has said in the past, she has withdrawn those and she said they were insensitive.

“And that was my view as well. So there’s no suggestion that I have supported those earlier comments. I don’t support those earlier comments.”

On Tuesday Anthony Albanese said Deves’ “mutilation” comment was not appropriate.

“Vulnerable people, in particular, are deserving of respect,” the Labor leader told reporters in Sydney.

“Every human being deserves respect. What we need to look for from our national political leaders is ways to unify the country and bring people together, not play politics in order to divide people.”

Earlier, the shadow infrastructure minister, Catherine King, told ABC News Breakfast it did not surprise her that Deves had walked back the apology.

“I think this is an incredibly divisive debate and I think the prime minister has chosen a very divisive candidate to run in that seat and I think it’s really awful to see that happening in the context of a federal election campaign,” she said.