Female MPs blast Scott Morrison over ‘smutty’ Pamela Anderson remark

Scott Morrison is under fire for his comments about Pamela Anderson, with Pauline Hanson and other female MPs backing the Baywatch star after she criticised the PM in an open letter.

Pauline Hanson has backed Pamela Anderson after the Baywatch star blasted Scott Morrison for making “smutty” and “lewd” comments about her in an open letter.

The One Nation leader took aim at the Prime Minister this morning over his remarks about Ms Anderson, after the actress called on him to help WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange return to Australia.

Mr Morrison rejected the plea earlier this month, joking in an interview with Gold Coast radio 1029 Hot Tomato: “I’ve had plenty of mates who’ve asked me if they can be my special envoy to sort the issue out with Pamela Anderson.”

After Ms Anderson hit back overnight, slamming the remarks as “lewd” and “unnecessary” in an open letter and reiterating her plea for Mr Morrison to help Assange, Senator Hanson today agreed the remarks were “smutty”.

“It is not the response I would have liked to have heard from the Prime Minister,” she told Channel 7’s Sunrise program.

Pamela Anderson has responded angrily to Scott Morrison’s remarks and dismissal of her plea for Julian Assange. Picture: Mike Marsland/WireImage

“I think she has asked a legitimate question and she is concerned about Julian Assange, as I was - I wrote to the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to bring him back to Australia.

“He’s been there for eight years. I think it’s a poor response from the Prime Minister.

“It wasn’t a lighthearted and jovial question, it was a serious question and I think it was smutty.”

Her fellow crossbench senator Derryn Hinch acknowledged he cracked a smile when Mr Morrison made a joke about Ms Anderson but agreed the Prime Minister shouldn’t have made the comment.

“In these politically correct days, you have to realise he really shouldn’t have said it,” Senator Hinch said. “It is a serious case. Julian Assange has been locked away in that embassy for many years.

“The Americans do want to get Julian Assange back to America to face charges and she is right, he could end up in Guantánamo Bay.”

Labor Senator Kristina Keneally also weighed in on Twitter:

I don’t agree with Ms Anderson’s views on Assange - but she’s right about one thing: it’s high time men, including ⁦@ScottMorrisonMP⁩ ,
stopped using a woman’s sexuality & appearance to denigrate her political arguments. https://t.co/RNd2aw8yMS

— Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) November 18, 2018

The backlash comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison is in Papua New Guinea for the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Picture: AAP

In her open letter yesterday, Ms Anderson said Mr Morrison’s response to her plea for Assange had been “disappointing”.

“You trivialised and laughed about the suffering of an Australian and his family. You followed it with smutty, unnecessary comments about a woman voicing her political opinion,” she wrote.

“We all deserve better from our leaders, especially in the current environment.”

Ms Anderson added: “Following the show, 60 Minutes canvassed the views of Australians online. People responded in the thousands, overwhelmingly—92 per cent of more than 7000—in favour of bringing Julian home.

“Rather than making lewd suggestions about me, perhaps you should instead think about what you are going to say to millions of Australians when one of their own is marched in an orange jumpsuit to Guantánamo Bay—for publishing the truth. You can prevent this.”

Assange has made repeated unsuccessful attempts to have legal action against him dismissed since he sought asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London six years ago.

Anderson has become a fierce advocate for his release after the duo grew close in recent years.

Originally published as Female MPs blast Scott Morrison over ‘smutty’ Pamela Anderson remark