SENATOR PENNY WONG, ACTING LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Were only four days into the New Year and already this Governments in fair bit of chaos. We've gottwo Ministers gone, another Minister behaving in a waywhich really is boorish and isunbecoming of anyone, let alonea senior Cabinet Minister. Wevegot a senior Cabinet Ministerwho thinks it's OK to speakabout a female journalist as amad expletive witch.
Well, Idon't think that's acceptable, I don't think Australians thinkit's acceptable and I thinkthis really is a test forMalcolm Turnbull. This is atest of Malcolm's leadership.
Malcolm told us he'd bedifferent to Tony Abbott, wellhe's got an opportunity to showus that he is and he shouldfront up to the Australianpeople and explain what hethinks of Peter Dutton'sbehaviour. He should front upto the Australian people andexplain how Peter Dutton'sbehaviour is consistent withthe high standards thatMinisters are expected todemonstrate. He should front upand explain why this behaviouris acceptable from one of hissenior Cabinet ministers,someone he picked to sit in thenation's Cabinet.
MalcolmTurnbull has spoken a lot abouthow he's different to TonyAbbott. He's spokenappropriately about theimportance of respecting women.He's spoken about theimportance of strongerministerial standards. He's gotan opportunity today to explainto Australians how thebehaviour of this Minister, whohe picked, is consistent withthe values that he's beenarticulating. Happy to takequestions.
JOURNALIST: What action do you think should be taken?
WONG: I think the firstaction that needs to be takenis the Prime Minister needs to break hissilence. On this issue silenceis not an option. Cabinetministers are picked by the Prime Ministerof the day; this is MalcolmTurnbull's choice to be amember of his Cabinet. He needsto front up to Australians andexplain what the thinks of thebehaviour, why he says it'sacceptable and most of all, whyit is consistent with thestandards of ministerialbehaviour.
We've had JamieBriggs appropriately resigning because he breachedthose standards. How is PeterDutton's behaviour consistentwith those standards? That'sthe question Malcolm needs toanswer.
JOURNALIST: Malcolm Turnbulls office have just said he wont be commenting on this at all. Do you think hes ducking for cover here?
WONG: The question isMalcolm Turnbull's office says he won't be commenting. Well, hedoesn't have that option. Hedoesn't have that option. Hedoesn't have the option ofsilence, because these areactions of his Minister. He'sthe Prime Minister who said that hebelieves in strongerministerial standards, he needs to explain to people why it isthat Mr Dutton's behaviour andthis sort of language isconsistent with the standardsthat areexpected of ministers.
JOURNALIST: More specifically, is there a culture problem in terms of their attitude towards women?
WONG: Were starting to get a bit of a picture ofwhat Peter Duttons private views are. Weve had a couple of insights and theyre pretty boorish. I think that most Australians, they dont want women spoken about in this way by their kids, by their friends. They dont want women spoken about in this way in their workplaces and I certainly dont think they want it around the Cabinet table.
JOURNALIST: Should Peter Dutton resign?
WONG: I think first, Australians are entitled to hear from the Prime Minister. Its really a matter for him to explain why he says Mr Duttons behaviours consistent with his position.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
WONG: I would say this: I dont think Australians think its acceptable to refer to women in those terms and I think any woman knows whats meant by those words. Whether people find offence or not, obviously Sam's put herview about that, which shes entitled to, but she's alsomade the view others might have adifferent view. I guess I'd askyourself and everybody, do wethink that's something in aworkplace that we would acceptfrom a colleague and I don'tthink it is.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) former Prime Minister entitlements today, Senator Nick Xenophons (inaudible). Do you think its a bit too much (inaudible)
WONG: Look, these are former leadersof the nation. I don't think weplay politics on these issues,obviously John Howard and others, their expenses were madepublic today. These are formerleaders of the nation and we've always made surethat former leaders cancontinue to do the job that thenation expects of them.
I wouldmake a comment also about JamieBriggs obviously. I do want to raise this concern. MrBriggs made a lot of protectingthe complainant's privacy. Hementioned that a number oftimes in his press conference.It's completely inconsistent withthat for a text message withphotos of the complainant to beshared among members of theGovernment and I think MalcolmTurnbull should also beexplaining why it is that thatwas allowed to occur.
JOURNALIST: Do you think that sort of undermines his apology by (inaudible)
WONG: That's a very good questionbecause you'd have to say ifyou were really concerned about protecting the complainant, why would you beputting around a photo of her toyour colleagues or to whomever.We don't know who the textmessage was sent to other than to some colleagues, but clearly thats not consistentwith a concern for herprivacy.
JOURNALIST: Senator, just on another issue, themass executions in SaudiArabia, do you think that there are implications for Australiaif there's conflict between thetwo countries and should we take a stand on this?
WONG: Obviously it's adeeply concerning set ofevents. Australia has a viewabout the death penaltywherever and whenever itoccurs and we are opposed to thedeath penalty. This is a deeplyconcerning set of events in aregion which is obviouslyvolatile. What we would urge is allparties to engagediplomatically, we would liketo see the tensionsdeescalated.
JOURNALIST: Would you like to see theGovernment come out stronglyagainst this?
WONG: I'm certainly not going toplay politics on this. I thinkall of us want to see the tensionsin the region deescalated. Thisis a deeply concerning set of events. And as I said, we allknow Australian Governments ofboth political persuasions havehad a consistent positionopposed to the death penalty.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
WONG: Look, I hope thatthere's not been any deal donewith him, with Mr Turnbull, about a return downthe track. I think that wouldbe unreasonable in thecircumstances and I think someof the behaviour post the pressconference that we've just been discussing, including the factthat a photo of complainant wassent around, really confirmsthat it isn't appropriate forMr Briggs to continue in theministry.
JOURNALIST: What exactly would you like to see happen in regards to Peter Dutton, should he be sacked?
WONG:The first thing I thinkAustralians would want to seeis the Prime Minister fronting up. Duckingfor cover is not an option. Thisis a test of Malcolm Turnbull'sleadership and he should comeout and explain Peter Dutton'sposition, why the behaviour isacceptable, or if its notwhat is being done about it andmost importantly how it isconsistent with the ministerialstandards that Mr Turnbullprofesses to endorse.
JOURNALIST: What if your Labor colleagues behaved in that way, would you expect them to resign?
WONG: You're providing me with ahypothetical. I have taken aposition I think all mypolitical life about the way inwhich we should speak particularly about women andabout the use of words such asthe ones we're discussing and Ithink that's been a consistentposition. I think I've taken aconsistent position about theway in which we should speakparticularly about women.
Anything else? Thank you verymuch.