Sarah Hanson-Young’s solicitor has started drafting legal letters for David Leyonhjelm, Sky News, 3AW
GREENS Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is considering a defamation lawsuit against David Leyonhjelm for the sexist slur he made about her on Sky News.
GREENS Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is considering a defamation lawsuit against David Leyonhjelm for the sexist slur he made about her on Sky News.
Senator Hanson-Young has hired solicitor Rebekah Giles, who has sent legal letters to Liberal Democratic Party Senator Leyonhjelm, Sky News and 3AW.
But, despite widespread condemnation across the political spectrum, Senator Leyonhjelm yesterday refused to apologise for the personal remarks he made about Senator Hanson-Young, even after receiving the legal threat.
Senator Leyonhjelm told Channel 10 last night he would not back down from accusing Senator Hanson-Young of “double-standards” for allegedly accusing all men of being rapists while she allegedly had boyfriends.
“Sarah and the Greens are collectivists. They attribute responsibility for all men for the behaviour of individual rapists and criminals. That’s what I was reacting to,” he said.
Senator Hanson-Young told The Daily Telegraph she was planning to sue Senator Leyonhjelm, saying the comments were “reprehensible” and “hurtful”.
“As a woman, a sister, and a mother, I have a responsibility to stand up against this treatment,” she said.
“I will not be intimidated or bullied by offensive and sexist slurs on my professional reputation.”
Senator Leyonhjelm first made the remarks in the Senate last week, before repeating them on Sky News on Sunday. A Sky producer for host Peta Credlin has been suspended for publishing his defamatory remarks in a strap on the screen.
Credlin last night said Senator Hanson-Young did not deserve to have sexual innuendo levelled at her and should not have to “put up with the muck whispered about her, sotto voce, in the corridors or hurled across the chamber as a form of sledge”.
“It is beyond the pale that this is how an elected woman is challenged — not on her policies, not on her performance, not on her ideas — but via slurs regarding her virtue, or in Leyonhjelm’s charge, lack of it.”
Former prime minister Tony Abbott said Leyonhjelm should apologise for the “tacky comment”.
Originally published as Sarah Hanson-Young’s solicitor has started drafting legal letters for David Leyonhjelm, Sky News, 3AW