Cash won’t say sorry over female staffers slur
AUSTRALIA: Despite withdrawing her comments, Michaelia Cash won’t apologise for threatening to expose rumours about Labor leader Bill Shorten’s female staffers and isn’t being asked to do so by the prime minister.
Senator Cash erupted during a fiery Senate hearing on Wednesday with a pointed warning she would ‘‘name every young woman’’ in the opposition leader’s office about whom rumours had circulated.
She ‘‘unreservedly’’ withdrew the comments yesterday, but Shorten said he was still waiting for a phone call and an apology.
‘‘I’m honestly shocked she hasn’t said sorry. I’ve been waiting for her to ring up my office and organise it,’’ Shorten said yesterday.
‘‘The prime minister said a few weeks ago that the parliament needed to be a more respectful workplace for women. I agree with him. Maybe he should try doing something about it.’’
But Malcolm Turnbull backed his minister when asked if he would make her say sorry.
‘‘Senator Cash was being bullied and provoked by Senator (Doug) Cameron who was making insinuations about staff,’’ he told parliament.
‘‘She made a response which she has unreservedly withdrawn.’’
Cash said after pressure from Labor to apologise on Wednesday: ‘‘If anyone has been offended by my remarks, I withdraw.’’
Yesterday, Cash told a hearing she ‘‘unreservedly’’ withdrew the comments, but accused Senator Cameron of making insinuations about her staff.
‘‘I’m more than happy to withdraw them unreservedly,’’ she said.
Labor frontbencher Brendan O’Connor said withdrawing the comments wasn’t good enough.
‘‘Minister Cash must do two things today – apologise and then resign,’’ O’Connor told reporters.
‘‘She needs to apologise for the slanderous slur she made yesterday towards young women working in parliament.’’
Appearing to try to avoid scrutiny from the media, Senator Cash entered a Senate estimates hearing yesterday behind a whiteboard to shield her from cameras.
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek demanded Cash look Shorten’s staff in the eyes and say she was sorry.
But cabinet minister Peter Dutton appeared to add fuel to the fire by saying it ‘‘was a bit rich’’ for Labor to be ‘‘moralising’’ on the coalition.
‘‘I think Mr Shorten has demonstrated on a number of occasions in relation to many issues that he is not a genuine person and he shouldn’t be taken at face value,’’ Dutton said.
Dutton declined to expand on what he meant by his remarks about Shorten.
Wednesday’s heated exchange occurred as Labor continued to pressure Cash over raids at Australian Workers Union offices last October.
Details of the police raids were leaked to a TV network by one of her media advisers, who later quit.
Cabinet minister Michael Keenan repeatedly denied his office having any role in the leak, under questioning from Labor MPs in parliament.
Buzzfeed reported a journalist claimed they received a tip-off from the former justice minister’s office ahead of the raids.