Shocking insult caught on tape

A Liberal Senator has accused a Labor adviser of calling her a “f***wit” and a “c***”. The man insists he was talking about someone else.

Liberal frontbencher Amanda Stoker has accused a Labor media adviser of calling her a “f***wit” and a “c***”, but the man who uttered the sledge insists he was talking about NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham.

The conversation was clearly overheard by Senator Stoker’s press secretary this morning as she was observing her boss defending the government’s religious freedom legislation during an interview with Sky News host Peter Stefanovic.

A Labor adviser could be heard talking to Labor MP Stephen Jones, and saying “what a c***” and describing someone as a “f***wit”.

The conversation was also unintentionally recorded by the press secretary, who was recording Ms Stoker’s interview, and a copy of the audio was provided to news.com.au by the Senator’s office.

“I’m a big girl, and able to cop insults, however unfair,” Ms Stoker told news.com.au.

“But my staff shouldn’t have to put up with an environment like that, and given Labor spend a lot of time talking about respect and tolerance, it would be nice to see them practise what they preach. Utter hypocrites.”

Senator Amanda Stoker. Picture: Gary Ramage/NCA NewsWire

Mr Jones has told news.com.au that the conversation was not about Ms Stoker. He said he and the Labor media adviser were discussing Mr Latham’s criticism of Mr Jones’ high heel wearing teenage son, Paddy.

At 8am, Mr Latham posted a tweet referring to 14-year-old Paddy’s interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, in which he discussed his father’s decision to speak about him on the floor of the House.

“He wears heels that give me vertigo and has more handbags than his sister,” Mr Jones said of Paddy, as he explained how his son had helped shape his opposition to Scott Morrison’s religious discrimination bill.

“He has more courage than any boy I have ever met.”

In his tweet, Mr Latham criticised Paddy, as well as Mr Jones’ parenting.

“What is the cause and effect here? Children are impressionable and with two radically left-wing parents who believe in gender fluidity, Paddy is not surprising anyone,” he said.

Mr Latham said Paddy was being “used as a political tool by his father to subject religious schools to more left-wing gender activism”.

Mr Jones did ask Paddy whether it was OK to talk about him in parliament before doing so.

What’s the cause and effect here?
Children are impressionable and with two radically Left-wing parents who believe in gender fluidity, Paddy is not surprising anyone.
But then used as a political tool by his father to subject religious schools to more Left-wing gender activism. https://t.co/HJOAKiqYBz

— Real Mark Latham (@RealMarkLatham) February 9, 2022

“I don’t think parliament works if every private conversation in a green room in Sky is going to be recorded,” Mr Jones told news.com.au.

He said he utterly rejected any suggestion he was sledging Ms Stoker.

“I just received a screenshot of a tweet Mark Latham had sent. Either he or I said, ‘What a c***,’” said Mr Jones.

“I can’t even remember which one of us said ‘c***’.”

In his speech this week, Mr Jones said that while he supported religious freedom, he feared the impact the proposed legislation could have on his loved ones, including Paddy.

“I know that the love and protection that he enjoys with his mother, with his friends and family is very different to the reception he may receive in the world outside,” he said.

“Could this be the day when we get ac all telling us that something has happened? That he has been attacked just for being who he is?”

The leaked audio recording follows a week of controversy over leaked texts calling the Prime Minister a “liar” and a “complete pyscho”, and the treatment of women in parliament.

Stephen Jones. Picture: Gary Ramage/NCA NewsWire