PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has broken his silence over incidents embroiling two of his ministers in an inappropriate text message and photo leak.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton dubbed Samantha Maiden, political editor for News Corp’s Sunday papers, a “mad f***ing witch” in a message he accidentally sent her about a column she wrote criticising his colleague Jamie Briggs.
The text was reportedly intended for Mr Briggs, who stepped down from the ministry last week over an incident with a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar.
Mr Turnbull admonished Mr Dutton over his text.
“As I advised the minister yesterday his language was clearly inappropriate as he recognised by apologising immediately to Ms Maiden,” he said in a statement to the media.
As for a photo leak involving Mr Briggs, hMr Turnbull said it could deter victims of sexual harassment from coming forward.
“Publishing the identity of a complainant in a case like this not only infringes their privacy, it serves actively to discourage other women who are concerned about the conduct of a superior from raising a complaint in the future,” he told Fairfax Media.
Mr Turnbull’s comments come as the journalist Mr Dutton dubbed a “witch” in a message he accidentally sent her says it was a “solid sledge”, but has accepted his apology.
Ms Maiden, the political editor for News Corp’s Sunday papers, received a text from the minister labelling her a “mad f***ing witch”, after penning a column critical of his colleague Jamie Briggs.
The message was reportedly intended for Mr Briggs, who has stepped down after acting inappropriately towards a diplomat while on an overseas trip.
“It’s a solid sledge,” she told the Nine Network.
“I sent him a text immediately saying ‘you know mate, you’ve sent that mad witch text to the mad witch’ and he was more than happy to apologise right away.” Ms Maiden said Mr Dutton made the decision to own up, after she chose not to name him when appearing on Sunday television.
She hoped he doesn’t end up in the backbench in light of the message mix-up.
“Mr Dutton is a good minister, he’s a hard worker, he’s made a strong contribution to the government,” she said, adding there are more substantive issues in relation to the Briggs affair.
In a statement on Sunday evening Mr Dutton said he was expecting a tough time in the journalist’s next column.
“Sam and I have exchanged some robust language over the years so we had a laugh after this and I apologised to her straight away, which she took in good faith,” he said.
Labor Senator Stephen Conroy said anyone could “press the button at the wrong moment”.
“He’s apologised, I think that’s the right thing to do and so the next column by Samantha Maiden about Peter Dutton should be good fun,” he told Sky News.
Senator Conroy said the reported circulation of the complainant’s photo by Mr Briggs was “probably inappropriate”.
“I’m not sure why you’d want to circulate them, but I think the appropriate decision was taken (to resign),” he said.
“Jamie Briggs has now resigned and what you’ve got to do though is get an honest explanation about when people knew what was going on, what decisions were being made, why it took so long and more importantly why did Malcolm Turnbull hide this in the Christmas/New Year break.”
He said Ministers shouldn’t behave “in the way that Jamie Briggs did” in Australia or overseas.
“If Ministers or MPs want to behave like that then ultimately they will be judged,” he said.
Senator Conroy’s ALP colleague Penny Wong released a statement calling for the Prime Minister to answer questions about Mr Dutton’s behaviour.
“This isn’t a backbench MP — this is a senior Cabinet Minister,” she said.
“It’s all very well to talk about increasing the role of women and stronger ministerial standards — today is the day Malcolm Turnbull must put that all that talk into action.
“This is one of Malcolm Turnbull’s biggest tests so far - he must front the cameras today and explain how this is acceptable behaviour.
“If he fails to front up, he’s sending the clear signal thinks this behaviour is appropriate.”
Senator Wong told reporters calling a female journalist a “mad expletive witch” was unacceptable.
“This is a test of Malcolm’s leadership,” she said.
“Malcolm told us he’d be different to Tony Abbott, well he’s got an opportunity to show us that he is and he should front up to the Australian people and explain what he thinks of Peter Dutton’s behaviour.
“He should front up to the Australian people and explain how Peter Dutton’s behaviour is consistent with the high standards that ministers are expected to demonstrate.”
Told by a reporter the Prime Minister’s office would not be commenting on the matter, Senator Wong said silence wasn’t an option.
“Cabinet ministers are picked by the PM of the day, this is Malcolm Turnbull’s choice to be a member of his Cabinet, he needs to front up to Australians and explain what the thinks of the behaviour,” she said.
“Why he says it’s acceptable and most of all, why it is consistent with the standards of ministerial behaviour, we’ve had Jamie Briggs appropriately resigning because he breached those standard.
“How is Peter Dutton’s behaviour consistent with those standards? That’s the question Malcolm needs to answer.”
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