A radio presenter has been sacked in Australia for asking Prime Minister Julia Gillard in a live interview if her partner is gay.

Howard Sattler suggested to Ms Gillard that her partner of seven years, Tim Mathieson, had to be homosexual because he was a hairdresser.

Ms Gillard characterised his comments as an absurd generalisation.

The DJ was suspended and then sacked by Fairfax Radio, which apologised for the "disrespectful" questioning.