This has to come under the heading ‘You couldn’t make this up”, as yet another Turnbull Government minister reveals his contempt for women:
Twitter, 3 January 2016
PETER Dutton, the minister who once resigned from the frontbench via SMS, yesterday labelled a female journalist a “mad f ... king witch” in a text — and then sent it to the journalist instead of the colleague it was intended for.
The Immigration Minister last night outed himself as the MP who had sent the blistering text about Sunday Telegraph political editor Samantha Maiden after reading her coverage of the Jamie Briggs affair.
The text message ended a horror week for the government after Mr Briggs was forced to resign from the frontbench for allegedly trying to kiss a junior public servant during a boozy night in a Hong Kong bar while on official ministerial business. The text was supposed to be sent to Mr Briggs after Maiden’s story outing the dumped minister for sending photos of the public servant he had taken on his phone, to colleagues.
Mr Dutton, who immediately apologised to Maiden after he realised he had sent the message to her, outed himself in a bid to avoid other colleagues being listed as suspects after Maiden refused to reveal the author of the text.
The minister, successful in protecting Australian borders, said he would cop the incident on the chin.
“I apologised to her straight away, which she took in good faith,’’ he said. “Sam and I have exchanged some robust language over the years so we had a laugh after this. I’m expecting a tough time in her next column.”
Maiden said she had accepted Mr Dutton’s apology and was “not offended by his mobile phone malfunction”. The pair have known each other for more than a decade.….
UPDATE
Prime Minister Turnbull not amused by Dutton’s latest blunder……
The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January 2016:
Senior cabinet member Peter Dutton has apologised for calling a female journalist a “mad f. king witch” over her coverage of fallen junior minister Jamie Briggs’s exploits in Hong Kong.
The Immigration Minister yesterday admitted that he sent the message to the political editor for News Corp Australia’s Sunday papers, Samantha Maiden, after she reported Mr Briggs had sent colleagues a photograph of the diplomat who complained about his behaviour at the Stormies Bar in late November.
It is understood Mr Dutton accidentally sent the text message to Maiden instead of Mr Briggs in what was intended as a show of support for the besieged South Australian MP…..
Malcolm Turnbull is understood to regard the derogatory comment more seriously, describing it privately as “completely inappropriate”.
Maiden’s reporting was highly critical of Mr Briggs and his supporters, and also revealed that the former cities minister had accepted first-class flights and gifts of champagne and wine during his parliamentary career. While denying he sent the photograph of the diplomat and his chief of staff, Stuart Eaton, at the Hong Kong bar to the media, Mr Briggs said he had shared it with some colleagues before and after the complaint in an attempt to highlight the “informal” nature of the night.
The Community and Public Sector Union said the breach of the woman’s privacy was “disgraceful”.
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