‘A sexist man’: Catley slams Speakman after he calls her ‘hysterical’

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has labelled Opposition Leader Mark Speakman a “sexist man” after he described her as “hysterical” on the same day he slammed a Victorian Liberal elder for claiming women in the party were “sufficiently assertive”.

In question time on Thursday, Catley seized on the comments made by Speakman at a press conference a day earlier, in which he described her as being “out of her depth” and giving “hysterical” answers in parliament.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley answers a question in the NSW Legislative Assembly this week.Credit: NewsWire/Pool

“Yesterday the leader of the opposition got up after question time and called me hysterical, not once, but twice,” Catley said.

“If a man came in here with a strong view about you deliberately bagging the cops and trying to deliberately confuse the public about who is responsible for cracking down on illicit tobacco, would you have used that language? No. It’s a sexist word used by a sexist man.”

The remarks were part of Speakman’s opening statement at a press conference after Wednesday’s question time, as the debate over who should take responsibility for a ballooning tobacco black market continued.

“I asked a very simple question in question time whether a task force was going to be expanded to cover illegal tobacco,” Speakman said at the press conference.

NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman made the comments after question time on Wednesday.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“I got no answer from the police minister, but instead a hysterical response. This minister is clearly out of her depth, you ask a simple question, you just get a hysterical, screaming answer that never engages.”

Later that day, the opposition leader took aim at former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale for his controversial claim that reverse quotas for men could be needed in the Liberal Party.

Stockdale told the NSW Liberal Women’s Council on Tuesday night that Liberal women were now so “sufficiently assertive” the party might need to help men gain preselection.

The comments were widely criticised, including by federal Liberal leader Sussan Ley and her deputy, Ted O’Brien.

“Of course we don’t need reverse quotas for men,” Speakman said. “We have 45 per cent women on the NSW frontbench and 45 per cent of the Liberal Party room are women. I welcome the talented, strong women who have joined our parliamentary ranks in recent years.”

Speakman defended his comments on Thursday, saying he did not call Catley herself hysterical.

“I said the minister’s response was hysterical — and that’s about tone, not gender. When serious questions are regularly met with yelling and finger-pointing instead of an answer, the public deserves to call those responses for what they are, over the top,” he said.

“This government would rather play word games than answer simple questions about law enforcement,” he said, referencing incidents in parliament when a female Labor MP described a female Liberal MP as “daddy’s little girl”, and a male Labor MP likened the same Liberal member to a “street worker”.

On Thursday afternoon, Catley doubled down on her comments. “I made it very clear in the house today that it is inappropriate to make sexist remarks like that,” she said.

“It’s very clear to me that the Liberal Party has a problem with women.”

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