‘Rude little b***h’: Jeff Kennett lashes woman at Young Liberals gala

Former premier Jeff Kennett stunned guests after he lashed out at a woman during the Young Liberals gala ball, prompting calls for him to be kicked out of the event.

Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett (pictured at a different event) has apologised for calling the woman a ‘rude little bitch’. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Former premier Jeff Kennett has come under fire from Liberal Party members after calling a woman a “rude little bitch” while giving a keynote address.

Mr Kennett was the guest speaker at a gala ball for Young Liberals at the Arts Centre on Saturday night.

But he stunned guests after he lashed out at the woman during the speech, saying she had repeatedly interrupted him.

Guests said they were left shocked by the bizarre attack from the former leader.

After the speech, Mr Dell’Orso quickly took to the microphone to apologise, while other members tried to have Mr Kennett kicked out of the black-tie event.

“With all due respect to Mr Kennett I want to deeply apologise to my friend on the front table,” he said.

“I’m against political correctness but we want to change the culture in the Liberal Party.

“We want to do politics differently. I want everyone to feel safe and respected in this room”.

One attendee called Mr Dell’Orso’s apology “brave”.

“Jeff was not happy about it,” he said.

Mr Kennett, pictured here at a different event, was giving the key note address at the gala when the outburst occurred. Picture: Glenn Hunt

“Having myself been at the receiving end of black-tie tirade a decade ago, Jeff’s taste for verbally abusing Young Liberals at their own events is well established,” one young Liberal said.

“Jeff’s love of the sound of his own voice is matched in intensity only by his sheer desperation to prop up John Pesutto, lest the Victorian Party find electoral success – causing his legacy, such that it is, to pass over the horizon of political irrelevance.”

When contacted by the Herald Sun, Mr Kennett apologised “profusely” for the blow up but went on to say it was born out of frustration at continual interruptions to his speech.

“I apologise profusely,” Mr Kennett said.

“I’m not going to try and make excuses but you can understand it was in response to something that happened and I was very disappointed (with the interruption).”

Mr Kennett said the woman had been talking to someone on her table in front of him and he had asked several times for the “very distracting” conversation to stop.

“Her comments were not at me, it was a discussion she was having at the table, which was right in front of where I was speaking,” Mr Kennett said.

“It was a great distraction and I had asked her or mentioned (it) several times and she’d ignored it, and unfortunately, I made that comment which was inappropriate but as you can understand, I was very disappointed.

“It was very distracting.”

An eyewitness said: “(His outburst) was disgusting. The woman was right next to me and she wasn’t even interjecting. Others were and she just laughed.”

Another Young Liberal who was at the event on Saturday night said the former’s premier’s comments “shocked everyone”.

“He’s dishonoured himself and his legacy.

“Young Liberals look up to someone like Jeff. He should have known better.”

Mr Kennett’s outburst is likely to setback attempts by Opposition Leader John Pesutto to convince Victorians that he modernising the Liberal Party. Picture: Diego Fedele

Mr Kennett has been a vocal supporter of Mr Pesutto’s in recent weeks, with the leader demanding MPs band behind the Opposition Leader and put an end to threats to challenge his leadership.

His public support – which has included donating to a fighting fund to cover Mr Pesutto’s legal defence against the defamation case brought by Moira Deeming – has been publicly criticised by former Kew MP Tim Smith.

Sources close to Mrs Deeming accused the former premier of being part of a “classic misogynist rich white bully boy club.”

“Pesutto has no credibility. If he did, he’d publicly condemn Kennett’s public abuse of that young woman, along with Kennett’s victim blaming ‘but she made me do it’ non-apology, give back all money taken from Kennett for his legal case against Deeming and refuse to take a dollar more,” she said.

Mr Kennett’s outburst is likely to setback attempts by Mr Pesutto to convince Victorians that he is modernising the Liberal Party, and making it more inclusive of women.

The party has long been dogged by claims it is “anti-women” and in 2021 recruited former British PM Theresa May to help the Victorian Liberal Party boost the number of women in parliament and close the party’s gender gap.

Mr Pesutto on Sunday morning described the former premier’s comments as “unacceptable” but said it was important to note Mr Kennett had apologised.

“Clearly it was unacceptable and it’s appropriate that he has apologised,” Mr Pesutto said.

“The comments this morning were wholly appropriate to apologise profusely (for), and I think that’s the acceptable thing to do.”

Pushed on whether he wanted to offer a forthright condemnation of the remarks, Mr Pesutto repeated they had been “totally unacceptable.”

“Well, I think the comments were totally unacceptable and I think it’s important to acknowledge that Jeff has made that profuse apology.”

In 2017 former police chief commissioner Christine Nixon accused Mr Kennett of being a misogynist.

“He didn’t think I should have the job,” she told 3AW.

“I never had a conversation with him as to why he didn’t like me in charge of Victoria Police, but that’s certainly what I’ve watched over time.”

Mr Kennett vehemently denied the claims.

Originally published as ‘Rude little b***h’: Jeff Kennett lashes woman at Young Liberals gala