Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday at the Prime Minister's press conference, many Australians nearly thought we were having a national moment. After more than a month of appalling revelations about rape, sexual assault, perverted acts and cultural problems in the government and parliament, people nearly thought the Prime Minister was finally getting it—understanding the gravity and the scale of the change that is needed. We had tears and what appeared to be real emotion, and he yet again brought his family into it, but then, seconds later, the Prime Minister's true character was revealed. One question he didn't like and it was straight back to anger, arrogance, smirks, dismissal and a refusal to take responsibility and actually do or commit to anything—and an astounding demand that women stand with him when last week thousands of Australian women called on him to stand with them. And there was a fabricated sexual assault claim to attack and distract the journalists asking him questions. His empathy consultants must have been tearing their hair out!

It's quite telling, though, that last night, just 30 minutes after the negative front pages of newspapers were revealed, the Prime Minister tweeted an apology to News Corp and to a victim who doesn't even exist. No quick apology, though, to robodebt victims or Australians who lost loved ones in nursing homes, to the 40,000 stranded Australians, to bushfire communities, or to Australian women—just to News Corp. This Prime Minister is a nasty fake; Australians deserve much, much better.