Steggall brands Dutton a ‘bully’ over Gaza racism row

Independent MP Zali Steggall has accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of bullying her amid reports he is seeking legal advice after she told him in parliament to “stop being racist”.

But she has shifted her language to focus on his policy of banning Palestinian refugees from the country.

Speaking to the ABC’s Radio National on Monday, Steggall said she did not regret her remarks, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to echo in an interview as the debate threatened to swamp a second week of parliament.

When asked about reports that Peter Dutton was seeking legal advice, Zali Steggall said it was “part of the playbook”.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Steggall, who made the racism comment during a tense session of question time last week, said it had been hard to keep her cool during the exchange.

“But no, I don’t [regret my comments] because I think this needs to be called out,” she said.

When asked about reports that Dutton was seeking legal advice, Steggall said it was “part of the playbook”.

Dutton lost a defamation case in 2022 against refugee advocate Shane Bazzi over a tweet about medical transfers for people detained in Nauru.

“I would view [reports he is seeking legal advice] as a true and tried part of the playbook of Mr Dutton, of bullying and intimidating people from calling out his policy and behaviour,” Steggall said.

Last week, federal parliament erupted after Dutton called for Australia to reject all migrants from the war-torn Gaza Strip. Sky News reported he was considering seeking legal advice after the teal MP’s racism barb, which she later withdrew, but Dutton has not confirmed that claim.

On Monday, Steggall focused her criticism on Dutton’s policies rather than his personal attitudes.

“For too long, we see policies that are inherently racist and they’re designed to foster fear and hatred of a minority group,” she said.

“And the fear of the consequences of calling [that] out means that the policy itself doesn’t get examined and called out, and that’s just bullying and intimidation.”

Steggall also slammed an opinion piece Dutton wrote for the Sunday News Corp papers, in which he accused Labor, the teals and the Greens of being “Hamas’ “useful idiots”.

“This is all designed to foster fear,” Steggall said.

Labor insisted last week that the government and ASIO were following the same processes that occurred under the Coalition, and accused the opposition of undermining national security agencies.

“I think Peter Dutton is deeply divisive and, well, that creates risk to the nation,” Albanese told ABC Radio on Monday.

He said if Dutton did not have faith in Australia’s national security agencies to vet Palestinian refugees, “he should say so”.

Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham accused Albanese and Steggall of hypocrisy.

“What we’re seeing from the prime minister and some of the teals like Zali Steggall, who all promised some sort of kinder, gentler politics, is that they are really quite happy to play the man rather than the ball,” he said.

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