Hollie Hughes calls for Lidia Thorpe to lose position after ‘slut shaming’
Liberal Hollie Hughes has called for the Greens senator who told her she should have kept her “legs shut” in a senate debate, to lose her position for the comment.
National
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Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes has called for the Greens senator who told her she should have kept her “legs shut” in a senate debate, to lose her position for the comment, slamming it as “beyond the pale”.
Ms Hughes has revealed her side of what happened in the Senate chamber on Wednesday night in the lead up to Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe issuing a retraction for the slur, condemned by one Liberal as “nothing short of slut shaming”.
Ms Hughes said earlier in the day during Question Time Ms Thorpe had “performed a stunt” in the Senate in protest of the deaths of Aboriginal women in custody, in the middle of an answer by NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds about people with disabilities and International Day for Disability.
“So during a quite raucous debate that was occurring in the Senate last night as legislation was being put, Lidia Thorpe, yelled across the chamber at me,” Ms Hughes said.
“To which I responded: ‘you’re a disgrace for pulling that stunt while we were talking about people with a disability’.
“She then responded: ‘at least I kept my legs shut’.
“Every single person that spoke to me that night in the Senate, every one of my colleagues that heard it took the inference she was referring to my autistic son, that if I had kept my legs shut, I wouldn’t have a child with a disability.”
Ms Hughes said she did not think she had “ever been so offended”.
“I don’t care what people throw at me, have a good ol’ crack … but … to invoke a child’s disability as somehow being my fault is really beyond the pale,” she said.
Asked if she believed Ms Thorpe should lose her position, Ms Hughes said “yes”.
“I sincerely wish my children weren’t exposed to this coverage but its because of and for them, I need to call out this behaviour,” she said.
“The Senate often sees robust debate and I am often an active participant.
“But at all times we focus on policy and what we think is the right thing to do with regards to legislation.
“We should not bring peoples family into the debate as a form of slur.”
Ms Thorpe was called out by Liberal Senator Ben Small on Wednesday night for making what he called “the most outrageous statement” about Ms Hughes.
“In the scheme of disgusting statements made in this chamber that surely ranks at the top of them,” he said.
Ms Thorpe then stood up and offered a retraction.
“I’m happy to retract, I just got a view of something that disturbed me but I am happy to retract,” she said.
On Thursday Ms Thorpe released a statement reiterating her unreserved apology for he comments toward Ms Hughes but rejected the allegation she had been referencing the senator’s family in any way, including her disabled son.
“Last night interjected in the Senate using inappropriate language,” she said.
“I regret doing that and immediately retracted my comments and apologised unreservedly to the Senator.
“However, I thoroughly reject any suggestion that I directly or indirectly referenced Senator Hughes’ family.
“The characterisation of my interjection is completely untrue, and more importantly, harmful to every disabled person.”
The incident occurred one day after Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins handed down a damning review of parliament workplace culture, calling on MPs and Senators to set better standards of behaviour.
Liberal Senator Amanda Stoker said parliamentarians must get the culture within Parliament House right.
“It is important we all lead from the top,” she told Sky News on Thursday.
“(Senator Hughes) is a tough nut, she will be okay. It is personal and it is not nice. At least Senator Thorpe has apologised.”
Liberal MP Jason Falinski on Thursday said the comments were “nothing short of slut-shaming”.
“It has no place in public life, and frankly I don’t think it has a place in the wider Australian community,” he told Ben Fordham on 2GB.