In explosive scenes in parliament today, the Prime Minister has delivered a scathing serve to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, slamming his ‘sexist’ attitude, and saying he ‘needs only look in the mirror to see misogyny’.
In a fiery speech, Prime Minister Julia Gillard called her opponent a misogynist for the first time ever.
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The explosive comments come only days after Mr Abbott’s wife Margie defended the Opposition Leader against accusations of him being sexist, and has been spruiking Abbott as a feminist himself.
Gillard unleashed her frustration over the sexism she has faced in her position as the nation’s first female Prime Minister, cataloguing Abbott’s history of sexist behaviour, and the discrimination and abuse that has been hurled at her from both the Opposition and the public over the past two years.
In an explosive reaction to the Opposition’s move to sack Speaker Peter Slipper over sexist text messages, Julia Gillard said she would not be lectured about sexism by the ‘misoginystic’ Mr Abbott.
“I am offended by the content of Peter Slipper’s texts, in the same way I am offended by Tony Abbott,” Ms Gillard said.
“I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man, I will not… Not now, not ever,”
“If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia… he needs a mirror.”
The Prime Minister called to discuss Abbott’s “repulsive double standards when it comes to misogyny and sexism” and went on to list occasions on which she had been offended personally by Tony Abbott, including his comments about women’s role in modern Australia, housewives, on abortion being “the easy way out”, and his calls for her to be “an honest woman”.
She said this was “something that would never have been said to any man sitting in this chair.”
“I was offended when the leader of the Opposition went outside and stood next to a sign that said ‘Ditch the Witch’,” she added.
Gillard tore into the Opposition Leader for not disciplining members of the party who attended a function where the “most vile things” were said about her family, and quoted Abbott who drew on Alan Jones’ controversial comments saying the Government was “dying of shame.”
“This Government is not dying of shame, my father did not die of shame, what the Opposition Leader should be ashamed of is his performance in parliament,” Gillard said.
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While she said she would not support the Opposition’s move to have the Speaker sacked over sexist text messages, the Prime Minister said she would not accept sexism in any form.
“Sexism should always be unacceptable. We should conduct ourselves as if it is always unacceptable.”
Video: Abbott references Jones in parliament
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