Perth radio host Kymba Cahill enters tense debate with Scott Morrison

Perth radio host Kymba Cahill ripped into Scott Morrison live on air this morning during a tense debate about women’s issues.

Perth radio presenter Kymba Cahill pulled no punches in a fiery interview with the Prime Minister this morning, interrupting Scott Morrison twice as he scrambled to answer questions about women’s issues ahead of the election.

During the tense chat on Perth’s Mix94.5 Breakfast show with Pete, Matt & Kymba, Cahill took Mr Morrison to task – saying he “consistently misses the mark” when it comes to women’s issues and referencing his “need to see women through the prism of his wife and daughter”.

While the interview started with a tax question, Cahill followed up with the pointed topic of the dangers and inequalities women face in the workplace, an issue that has dogged the Prime Minister much of the past year.

The Prime Minister was taken to task on live radio this morning.

“Prime Minister, when it comes to women’s issues, you consistently miss the mark,” Cahill began.

“Evidently, you need to see women through the prism of your wife or your daughters, and in 2022, there is just no excuse for that level of ignorance. What is not cutting through for you? What needs to happen for you to recognise the inequality, bias and dangers that women face?”

Mr Morrison was quick to defend himself.

“I don’t share your view about that, and I don’t think that that’s how I do see those issues. Of course, like every other Australian, I’m informed by the world I live in and my own family, but that’s not how I see those issues. I see them individually,” he said, prompting Cahill to interject.

“But you’re not every other Australian, you’re the Prime Minister. You have people come to you every day from different organisations around the country that work in these industries because you’re not on the ground, and they tell you what’s happening, and you don’t instigate change,” she asserted.

Perth radio host Kymba Cahill

“I’d have to disagree,” Mr Morrison shot back, going on to list the “action” his government has taken in the area.

“There are more women in work today than we’ve ever seen, we’ve got the lowest gender pay gap that we’ve ever seen, we’ve got one of the lowest level of unemployment rates among women that we’ve ever seen.

“I’ve put more women onto government boards, we have more than 50 per cent, that’s more than Labor ever had. I have more women in my cabinet than any prime minister in Australia’s history.”

He continued: “On the women’s domestic violence package, we put over a billion dollars into that and we’re making further announcements. That is more money that any other government has ever put into these issues, ever.”

He went on to say he has “responded with action”, adding that people have chosen to “listen to other voices and (the government’s) critics”,

“When you look at the reality, our government has delivered economically, socially, and in terms in representation like no other government before us,” he said.

Rebutting him once more, Cahill referenced the Jenkins Report, which uncovered disturbing accounts of sexual assault and found that one in three parliament workers have experienced sexual harassment while working in parliament. It recommended that Parliament works to reduce the mixing of booze at work and that politicians consider boosting female participation with targets.

The Jenkins Report was released last year, prompting action in the Parliamentary workplace. Picture: AAP Image.

“Except when it comes to harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace when they came to you with a plan and you gave them less than a week to turn this around,” Cahill pointed out of Mr Morrison’s response to the investigation.

“We initiated, well before the Jenkins report, the changes in the Parliamentary workplace that have been the most significant transformation of any time in the parliament,” Mr Morrison replied.

“The way this has been treated in the media, that’s not what the actual reality is. Every time we’ve taken this issue as seriously as you’d expect and more so … I want the workplace to safe for everybody,” he added, going on to seemingly refer to allegations of toxic workplace culture within the Labor Party.

“Right now, it’s not the Liberal party facing those issues. I think it’s important for all parties to address these issues, we certainly are,” he said.

Stepping in to diffuse the heated debate, Cahill’s co-host Matt chimed in: “Hey Prime Minister it’s Matt here. Welcome to Perth,” before posing a “man to man” question about the environment and the government’s “net zero by 2050” emissions target.

After the interview, an audibly frustrated Cahill remarked that she had “nothing to add” about the on-air discussion.

Originally published as Perth radio host Kymba Cahill enters tense debate with Scott Morrison