Australia’s Minister for Women weighs in on Pamela Anderson’s feud with Scott Morrison

Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer has defended Prime Minister Scott Morrison after Pamela Anderson lashed out at him for making ‘lewd’ comments about her.

Australia’s Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer has defended Prime Minister Scott Morrison after Pamela Anderson lashed out at him for making ‘lewd’ comments about her.

It comes after the Prime Minister yesterday came under fire for making a “smutty” and “lewd” comment about the Baywatch star after she called on him to help WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange return to Australia.

Mr Morrison had joked in an interview with Gold Coast radio 1029 Hot Tomato that he had “plenty of mates who’ve asked me if they can be my special envoy to sort the issue out with Pamela Anderson” as he rejected her call to help Assange.

Minister O’Dwyer was asked about the remark today as she fronted the National Press Club in Canberra to deliver the Women’s Economic Security Statement and announce $109 million worth of reforms to help women.

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Pamela Anderson pleaded to Scott Morrison in a 60 Minutes interview to help WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Picture: fotopress/Getty Images

Mr Morrison quipped back at Pamela, ignoring her plea but saying many of his mates wanted to be a special envoy for her. Picture: AAP/Joel Carrett

Asked whether the Prime Minister should apologise to Ms Anderson, Ms O’Dwyer said: “Look, I think the Prime Minister probably regrets the comments that he made and I certainly know from a discussion that he didn’t mean to cause any offence.”

She added that Mr Morrison had been “incredibly supportive” of the women’s economic security statement and “focusing a floodlight on these issues around women being able to build their financial security”.

Ms O’Dwyer did not call on the Prime Minister to apologise.

In a poll conducted by News Corp, about two thirds of the 886 respondents (as at 2pm Tuesday AEDT) thought Mr Morrison’s comments were funny while a third believed they were inappropriate.

During her speech, Ms O’Dwyer offered advice to women and girls to “call out bad behaviour”.

“Don’t leave your future to others. Be deliberate in maximising every opportunity that is available to you. Back yourself,” she said.

“There are no limits on what you can achieve with hard work and perseverance. And when you inevitably get a set back — which everybody does — learn from it, but move on.

“Call out bad behaviour, whether it’s school, at university, in the workplace or anywhere else. But don’t allow society to define you as a victim or limit your expectations as a result of your gender.”

Minister for Women Kelly O'Dwyer said the PM likely regretted his comments. Picture: AAP/Lukas Coch

The Minister was also grilled about allegations of bullying within the Liberal Party that emerged during the leadership spill after her formal address to the press club, where she announced “game-changing” reforms for paid parental leave that would allow new mums and dads more flexibility in taking time off work.

She doubled down on her remarks at the time that MPs had told her they experienced bullying during the spill, saying: “I don’t resile for one moment from the statements that I made about that time.”

It contradicts Mr Morrison’s comments in the weeks after the spill that there had not been any bullying in the Federal Party, but that there had been issues at a state and party organisation level.

Ms O’Dwyer said today she was “very pleased” Mr Morrison took up her suggestion that there should be a proper process where there could be “formal, independent, rigorous complaints” made within each division of the party organisation.