Did he really say that? Anthony Albanese calls for Sussan Ley to be ‘smashed’

ANTHONY Albanese let loose in Question Time yesterday, aiming a particularly shocking sledge at a female frontbencher.

WE’RE used to seeing a few slip-ups and gotchas in Question Time, but yesterday Anthony Albanese shocked us with a particularly poor choice of words.

The Labor MP has copped some criticism over apparently urging one of his colleagues to “smash her!”, when rising to grill health minister Sussan Ley.

As member for Ballarat Catherine King rises to question the coalition MP, Albanese can be heard to casually call out the aggressive phrase from the front bench, with laughter from colleagues following.

The choice of words is at odds with the opposition’s current focus on addressing domestic violence.

The outburst was described by News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt showing a double standard.

“What would the media have said had Tony Abbott said the same in referring to, say, Tanya Plibersek?” he wrote.

Mr Albanese narrowly lost the Labor leadership to Bill Shorten in 2013 while gaining the backing of 60 per cent of the wider party membership.

He’s recently had to respond to questions over the party leadership, declaring he is “not available” for the position, reported The Australian.

Ms Ley has responded to Mr Albanese’s comments via Twitter, saying it was “hardly of concern”.

Worked with lots of real men in shearing sheds so slick Labor pollie @AlboMP hardly of concern http://t.co/HDjcPoJQQP pic.twitter.com/zpwqiNkVJi

— Sussan Ley (@sussanley) June 5, 2015