Coalition MP Sarah Henderson and Labor MP Catherine King said the senator’s remarks to Sarah Hanson-Young were ‘terrible’ and ‘undignified’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Politicians of both major parties have added to calls for David Leyonhjelm to apologise for offensive comments he made about his fellow senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Speaking on the ABC’s Q&A program, the Coalition MP Sarah Henderson and Labor’s health spokeswoman, Catherine King, said the remarks by the senator, made in parliament last week and again on Sky News on Sunday, were “terrible” and “undignified”.

ABC Q&A (@QandA) .@SHendersonMP was appalled & believes we should treat each other with mutual respect. @MrCoreyWhite found it repugnant. @ErikOJensen thinks logic is broken #QandA pic.twitter.com/ny7IFch8hL

“I think he should apologise. It’s a terrible thing he said. It did not do him any good in terms of the dignity he should hold as a member of parliament,” Henderson said.

King said Leyonhjelm’s behaviour needed to be called out and that apologies from Outsiders hosts Rowan Dean and Ross Cameron should have been made sooner. She said the senator “has been a complete and utter dick”.

“This behaviour has to be called out. Women are sick and tired of waiting for men to actually stand up against this behaviour.”

On Monday night, Cameron and Dean apologised live on air for broadcasting the remarks. It followed an earlier apology from the broadcaster and criticism from Sky News’s political editor, David Speers, and senior colleagues.

ABC Q&A (@QandA) How do you expect your policies to be taken seriously while working with abusive people? @corybernardi & @CatherineKingMP respond #QandA pic.twitter.com/HXYoH6Vd2Y

Hanson-Young has said she will not stand for abuse across the chamber and is taking legal advice from Rebekah Giles of law firm Kennedys in relation to broadcasts by Sky News and the Melbourne radio station 3AW.

The Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi, who votes in an alliance with Leyonhjelm, said on Q&A he had “heard worse things said in the Senate” but “I would apologise if it was me”.

“It was wrong and he doubled down on it on Sunday,” he said.

Leyonhjelm appeared on both Channel Ten’s The Project and the ABC’s 7.30 on Monday evening but refused to apologise.

“I am not apologising for anything,” he said. “I stand by it. I am opposed to double standards.”

The Q&A panellist Erik Jensen, editor of the Saturday Paper, criticised Sky News for suspending a young female producer filling in on the Outsiders program on Sunday but not disciplining its hosts.

“I think that’s quite vile and wrong,” he said.