Senator adamant his insults not sexist

CANBERRA: Independent senator David Leyonhjelm wants Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to call out hatred of men as he continues to defend his heated remarks about fellow senator Sarah HansonYoung’s personal life.

And the New South Wales senator has accused his female Greens counterpart of being the worst offender of using unparliamentary language, saying she was regularly forced to withdraw statements while he was not.

Leyonhjelm also stood by his previous description of the prime minister as a ‘‘pussy’’, branding Turnbull a ‘‘doormat’’ for rolling over on misandry.

‘‘Misandry is equally as bad as misogyny. He should also call out misandry. It’s equally as bad. It’s also sexism,’’ he told ABC radio yesterday.

His challenge comes after Turnbull called him to apologise for telling HansonYoung in parliament to ‘‘stop shagging men’’ and alluding to her private life in subsequent media interviews.

Leyonhjelm yesterday again defended himself saying it was ‘‘silly’’ to suggest he had a problem with powerful females.

‘‘I will tell people they’re bastards or bitches or to f . . . off regardless of their gender. It is normal Australian behaviour,’’ he said.

‘‘I don’t discriminate between men or women.’’

HansonYoung this week said she had put up with sexist comments in parliament for years but the ‘‘slutshaming’’ from Leyonhjelm went too far.

She wanted to stamp out sexism in the workplace and has asked men around Australia to realise what women go through.

‘‘If you see it happening to a woman, if you hear it happening to your sister, to your mother, to your work colleague, say something,’’ an emotional Hanson Young told reporters on Tuesday.

‘‘Stand up and say something because I can guarantee you she’s not having fun.’’

But Leyonhjelm believes HansonYoung is a ‘‘sexist’’ who thinks all men are responsible for violent crimes against women.

He denied ‘‘slutshaming’’ the South Australian senator.

HansonYoung has fired off legal letters to Leyonhjelm, Sky News and Melbourne radio station 3AW over subsequent interviews with him about their verbal stoush, but has not yet said whether she will sue for defamation.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has also called on Leyonhjelm, who continues to stand firm, to apologise.

The scrap began during a Senate debate last week on a motion calling on the Government to allow women to carry Tasers, pepper spray and mace to defend themselves from murderers and rapists.

Leyonhjelm believed he heard HansonYoung say words to the effect of ‘‘all men are rapists’’ — which she denies — and responded with ‘‘Stop shagging men’’.

When she approached him, he confirmed his comment. She then called him a creep and he told her to f . . . off. — AAP

❛ I will tell people they’re bastards or bitches or to f . . . off regardless of their gender. It is

normal Australian behaviour