Malcolm Turnbull has been urged to uphold high ministerial standards by disowning Peter Dutton’s “boorish” comments about a female journalist.
Labor sought to intensify pressure on the prime minister on Monday, seizing on revelations the immigration minister had described the Sunday Telegraph’s political editor, Samantha Maiden, as “a mad fucking witch”.
The acting opposition leader, Penny Wong, cast the episode as a test of the prime minister’s leadership after Jamie Briggs was forced to resign last week for failing to meet ministerial standards during a night out in Hong Kong in November.
Wong, Labor’s leader in the Senate, stopped short of calling for Dutton’s resignation, but said Turnbull could not remain silent over the issue, especially since the prime minister had spoken about the importance of respecting women and stronger ministerial standards.
Dutton’s comments, conveyed in a text message he accidentally sent to Maiden, were “unbecoming of anyone, let alone a senior cabinet minister” and Turnbull should “front up to Australians and explain what he thinks of the behaviour”, Wong said.
“We’re starting to get a bit of a picture of what Peter Dutton’s private views are. We’ve had a couple of insights and they’re pretty boorish,” she said in Adelaide on Monday.
“I think that most Australians don’t want women spoken about in this way by their kids, by their friends, and they don’t want women spoken about in this way in the workplaces and I certainly don’t think they want it around the cabinet table.”
Wong added that “ducking for cover is not an option”.
“This is a test of Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership and he should come out and explain Peter Dutton’s position, why the behaviour is acceptable or if it’s not what is being done about it and most importantly how it is consistent with the ministerial standards that Mr Turnbull professes to endorse,” she said.
The focus on ministerial standards follows the prime minister’s decision last week to accept the resignation of Briggs as the minister for cities and the built environment, following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female public servant during an overseas trip.
The public servant raised concerns about the appropriateness of Briggs’s conduct towards her in crowded bar in Hong Kong after the day’s official program had concluded. She, Briggs and his chief of staff were in attendance.
Maiden reported on Sunday that Briggs had admitted sending a photo of the woman “to a few people prior to the complaint and following”, triggering privacy concerns from the public sector union.
Wong said the distribution of the photo, which was published in a pixellated form by the Australian newspaper, “really confirms that it isn’t appropriate for Mr Briggs to continue in the ministry”.
Dutton apologised to Maiden for the error and played down its impact.
“Sam and I have exchanged some robust language over the years so we had a laugh after this and I apologised to her straight away which she took in good faith,” he said in a statement. “I’m expecting a tough time in her next column.”
Maiden accepted the apology and expressed hope that Dutton would not lose his ministry over the incident, which she said unfairly took the focus off the allegations made against Briggs.
Maiden also acknowledged that the pair have had a stormy professional relationship in the past.
“We may have had to put coins in the swear jar at some point,” she told Macquarie Radio on Monday.
Turnbull has yet to comment on the Dutton remarks.
Turnbull’s first major policy announcement after taking the prime ministership in September was on reducing violence against women. He emphasised the point that all violence against women starts with gender inequality and a lack of respect.
“We, as leaders, as a government, must make it and we will make it a clear national objective of ours to ensure that Australia is more respecting of women,” he said during a press conference in September. “Disrespecting women is unacceptable. It is unacceptable at every level. At home, at the workplace, wherever.”
In November, Turnbull said men in leadership positions needed to show they were committed to gender equality.
“We need to practise that as an example in our public lives and in our private lives alike,” he said during a White Ribbon Day breakfast. “I am determined to ensure my government leads, shows the leadership to be a nation that respects women.”