Premier Jacinta Allan’s tense moment with reporter over Peter Dutton meme
Premier Jacinta Allan has lashed out at a reporter during her first press conference of the year when pressed about her delay in responding to the Peter Dutton meme scandal.
Victoria
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Premier Jacinta Allan has lashed out at a reporter over questions about her delay in responding to the Peter Dutton meme scandal.
The Australian Labor Party’s Victorian branch was this week forced to remove the photo, which was viewed as a personal attack on the federal Opposition Leader’s wife, Kirrily.
The post, shared across the Labor Party’s social media channels, featured a 2019 newspaper photo of Ms Dutton, who remarked about her husband: “He is not a monster.”
It was captioned with the words “We all know that one couple”, with a subheading that read: “Justifying your new partner to friends who don’t like him”.
Hours after the post - slammed by users as “grubby politics” - circulated on Monday, both the Herald Sun and The Australian newspapers contacted Ms Allan’s office for comment.
But both mastheads were told by her media team that the office wouldn’t comment because it was a matter for the Australian Labor Party’s Victorian branch to respond to.
One day later, and after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had ordered the post be taken down, Ms Allan released a statement condemning it.
However at her first press conference of the new year, Ms Allan claimed she had never refused requests from media to comment on the scandal.
“That claim that you’ve just made is incorrect, so you might want to rephrase your question,” she said.
When the reporter followed up to point out that she initially declined to comment, Ms Allan interjected: “That is not correct. That is not correct. I was asked to provide a comment and a comment was provided.”
“That allegation is absolutely incorrect,” she added.
Ms Allan on Thursday reiterated that it was appropriate for the post to have been taken down.
“Families should absolutely be off limits,” she said.
“I’m sure that officials in the Victorian branch of the Labor Party will have been reviewing the processes.”
Ms Allan said she hadn’t spoken to Victorian Labor state secretary Steve Staikos about the post, adding that she had no knowledge as to how it came about.
“That account is run independently by the Australian Labor Party’s Victorian branch,” she said.
“It’s not an account that has anything to do with the government.”
Mr Staikos initially defended the post, saying: “It’s not a personal attack at all”.
“It’s supposed to be a comedic meme,” he said.
New Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin slammed Ms Allan’s slow response to the saga.
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept, Premier Allan had an opportunity to call out this behaviour from her own party, but chose to stay silent and allow the Victorian Labor Party to target Mr Dutton’s wife,” he said.
Originally published as Premier Jacinta Allan’s tense moment with reporter over Peter Dutton meme
‘Jewish community isn’t political bait’: Battin hits back at neo-Nazi jab
Opposition Leader Brad Battin has fired back at remarks made by a senior Allan government minister over claims he failed to unequivocally condemn neo-Nazis at a rally last year.
The 47 Victorian educators who faced disciplinary action in 2024
The teacher watchdog took disciplinary action against 47 educators last year, including 28 teachers and principals who were suspended on an interim basis.