Politics

Leyonhjelm launches astonishing attack on Turnbull over ‘sexist slurs’

Jul 04, 2018

David Leyonhjelm has taken aim at PM Turnbull over his recent 'sexist' comments. Source: Getty.

David Leyonhjelm has refused to back down over his sexist comments towards Sarah Hanson-Young, and instead launched an astonishing attack on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after he called for the senator to apologise.

The Liberal Democratic senator came under fire just days ago when Hanson-Young accused him of telling her to “stop shagging men” during a debate about the issuing of non-lethal weapons to women as a way of preventing sexual attacks.

She labelled him a “creep” over the shock comments and admitted she was “disappointed” that he had refused to apologise.

Turnbull later spoke out to slam the senator for the slurs, telling reporters on Tuesday: “It was clearly offensive, it should have been withdrawn and apologised for. It’s not too late for him to do so now.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten agreed, as he called on him to apologise and added: “Most people in the street actually think what he said was seriously offensive.”

However, despite the overwhelming backlash, Leyonhjelm instead hit back at Turnbull in a fiery interview with SBS, branding him a “pussy” for his reaction.

“The Senate is a robust place, all kinds of language gets used in [there],” the NSW senator told new news outlet. He accused Hanson-Young of ‘misandry’, essentially a hatred of men, and added: “This is about misandry. The prime minister should stop being such a pussy. This is about criticism of all men. It’s just as bad as criticism of all women.”

Hanson-Young has denied she ever believed that men were are responsible for the actions of others who commit violence.

The initial slanging match came after Senator Fraser Anning, of Katter’s Australia Party, moved a motion in the Senate calling on the government to relax import laws for non-lethal weapons, such as mace, tasers and pepper spray, in response to violent crimes against women.

The Queensland senator wants to arm Australian women to give them “security and confidence” to defend themselves against would-be rapists and murderers. However the motion was defeated 46-5, with the only supporters being Peter Anning, Senator Leyonhjelm, One Nation’s Peter Georgiou, Brian Burston and Cory Bernardi.

Greens senator Janet Rice slammed the “ill-conceived” motion, telling parliament: “The last thing that women in Australia need now is another man in power telling us that we are responsible for violence against us.”