Albanese was accused by Coalition MP Michelle Landry of bullying her during his Question Time response. Source: Shutterstock.
Anthony Albanese was accused by Coalition MP Michelle Landry of bullying, saying she felt humiliated by him during Question TIme.
Landry had asked a question about funding for a project in her Queensland electorate of Capricornia. Albanese mentioned the Yeppen Floodplain when responding which then had Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and others interjecting.
They were attempting to correct the prime minister on the pronunciation of Yeppoon, a nearby coastal town with a similar name. Albanese then addressed their mistake.
“Yeppoon is a different place,” he said.
“And you might want to ask the Member for Capricornia, because Yeppoon is on the coast, north of Rockhampton, and the [Yeppen] Floodplain is to the south.”
Albanese also yelled “Queenslander!”, a reference to the rugby league call that became famous by Billy Moore.
Michelle Landry was seen on a video feed of the parliament laughing but said she left the Question Time feeling humiliated and described it as bullying.
“I really do not appreciate being spoken to, and screamed at, by the Prime Minister as I was today,” she said.
“I asked a question, which I’ve talked to a lot of you about — the ring road in Rockhampton — and I feel that I’ve been humiliated by him and by the Labor Party.”
She also said the prime minister called her to say his comments were to Dutton and he did not intend to upset her.
“He had a yell at Peter Dutton but he was looking at me, and he was screaming at me, and pointing at me,” she said.
The speaker of the House, Milton Dick said he did not find that Albanese showed disrespect to her upon reviewing the footage.
“During the answer, the prime minister was also directly responding to interjections from the leader of the opposition,” Mr Dick said.
“In reviewing the footage, I did not see the prime minister show any disrespect to the member for Capricornia.”
The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, said Landry had left the chamber in tears and the government was not living up to the pledge it made of creating a “gentler” parliament.
She also said female MPs and senators are being “treated absolute garbage by the left and we’ve had enough”.
