Michael McCormack says mouse plague from regional Australia should be ‘rehomed into inner city’

Mice from regional Australia should be “rehomed” to inner-city suburbs to nibble the feet of animal rights activists and “scratch their children at night”, the country’s acting prime minister, Michael McCormack, has told parliament.

McCormack on Wednesday responded to an opposition Labor question about the federal government’s lack of a national plan to combat the mouse plague in regional areas of eastern Australia.

Asked if the Coalition had abandoned farmers, McCormack extolled the benefits of Australia’s free trade agreement with the UK then pivoted back to the mouse plague.

“There is nothing worse than the stench of mice, nothing worse than having mice eat your grain, mice running around your house, farm and factory,” he told the House of Representatives.

“We have [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] coming out – and I didn’t hear the member for Melbourne [Greens leader Adam Bandt] disendorsing them – saying the poor little curious creatures, the mice, should be rehomed.

“I agree they should be rehomed, into their inner-city apartments so they can nibble away at their food and their feet at night and scratch their children at night. This is a disgrace by Peta.”

McCormack, the leader of the ruralbased National party, is Australia’s acting leader while the Liberal prime minister, Scott Morrison, visited the UK for the G7.

The Nationals leader has a tenuous grip on power due to signals from his predecessor, Barnaby Joyce, that he would like to return to the top job. McCormack has a history of attempting to shore up his leadership with inner-city bashing comments such as referring to environmentally-concerned residents of metropolitian areas as “latte-sippers”.

McCormack said on Wednesday the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority was considering requests for stronger pesticides to kill the mice but “the trouble with that bait is that it also does have secondary influences on native birds and other animals, pets around the house and indeed livestock”.

McCormack said the response to the mouse plague was the “remit of the states” and the NSW government had supported farmers with $150m.

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek described the acting PM’s answer as “very weird” and said the “hostility to people who live in the city actually makes no sense”.

Labor MP Julian Hill said the answer was “embarrassing” and described McCormack as a “fool”.

In April 2019, McCormack was asked at the National Press Club about the divide between country and city, whether his rhetoric such as “latte sippers” and “greenies” had contributed to a lack of respect and whether he would commit to reform.

McCormack replied: “Sure. I think everybody should actually be a little bit more respectful of each other.”