Labor MP calls Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull a ‘wuss-bag’ on live TV

LIKE golf, politics is an arena where bad language and personal attacks are discouraged. This MP obviously didn’t get the memo.

Richard Marles’ comments have livened up a quiet weekend so far on the campaign trail. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

THE Prime Minister has been labelled a “wuss-bag” by a senior Labor MP.

Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles made the sledge while talking with cabinet minister Christopher Pyne on SKY TV, who repeated the label in disbelief.

Mr Marles was taking aim at Malcolm Turnbull after he declined to front a town hall debate in Brisbane with Mr Shorten.

“The prime minister is a total wuss-bag - not showing up to the debate showed all the courage of a fleeing mouse,” Mr Marles said. Mr Pyne hit back at the statement, saying the prime minister had chose a Facebook debate to reach ten million Australians and demonstrate he is an innovation prime minister.

Meanwhile, Bill Shorten has defended his party’s very unpopular proposal to cut Family Tax Part A (the parenting bonus) if his party wins the election. The Opposition Leader said the Coalition’s cuts to family tax benefits were massive and far deeper than what Labor is proposing,

Mr Shorten was defending the cuts announced by Labor on Friday, emphasising the targeted nature of his proposal as he responds to claims he has backflipped on the issue.

Labor was vocal in its opposition to similar cuts proposed by the coalition in the 2014 budget and has kept those measures tied up in the Senate.

“We made clear that families underneath $100,000 shouldn’t receive the brunt of government cuts,” Mr Shorten said in Sydney.

Modelling for the Weekend Australian by the Australian National University’s social research arm confirmed Mr Shorten’s assertion that low-income families would be better off under his cuts than the coalition’s.

It also showed the average working family with two children would be around $400 a year worse off under Labor’s proposal.

Labor continued rolling out its budgetary position today, committing $88 million to a safe housing program for women and children escaping domestic violence.

Mr Shorten and Senator Katy Gallagher announced plans to increase the number of dwellings available for women and children fleeing violence.

The funding will also go to initiatives to keep women safe in their own homes.

Sen Gallagher told reporters family violence is the leading cause of homelessness in Australia.

Over a three-year period, 130,000 women needed to use homelessness services when they left violent situations at home and 45,000 had dependent children with them.

“One of the gaps that’s existed for the last couple of years has been a program which helps increase the number of housing options for women when they make that choice,” she said.

“So this program is $88 million, we want to work with the states and territories to see if they can partner with us if we were elected to deliver an increase in the number of transitional housing options for women.”

Mr Shorten said family violence “is a national disgrace that demands a national approach”.

The family violence measures are part of Labor’s policy on equal treatment for women, which also focuses on women’s sport and pay equality.

“We believe that if we’re elected after July 2, and we were to secure no other outcome other than improve and achieve the equal treatment of women, this country would be a much more united society,” Mr Shorten said.

“The onward march of women to achieve true equality in our society is a purpose which the Labor Party is dedicated to.”

He said more than 40 per cent of Labor’s shadow cabinet was women and the party was committed to having 50 per cent of its MPs being women by 2025.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au.

- with AAP