THE shock jock who repeatedly asked Julia Gillard about her sex life and whether her partner was gay has been sacked.

Howard Sattler, the long-time host of Perth's 6PR Drive show, was also cut from a regular slot on Channel 7's Sunrise, after the widely criticised interview in which he asserted that Tim Mathieson was gay because he was a hairdresser.

His employer Fairfax Radio first suspended him hours after the Wednesday night interview and issued a personal apology to Ms Gillard and Mr Mathieson.

The Seven Network confirmed Sattler's regular role on Sunrise had also been suspended.

6PR general manager Martin Boylen said Sattler had been fired after an internal review of the incident.

“Radio 6PR apologises unreservedly to Miss Gillard and Mr Mathieson for allowing these matters to be raised on the Drive program,” Mr Boylen said.

“In the wake of yesterday’s interview, Radio 6PR suspended Mr Sattler from broadcasting pending a review of the matter today. The station has now decided to terminate Mr Sattler’s engagement effective immediately.”

Thursday's controversial interview, which sparked outrage across the political sphere and social media, came at the end of a highly trying week for the Prime Minister, who had earlier been the target of a sexist sledge in the form of "menugate".

Ms Gillard was "stunned" by the bizarre broadside, according to a government source.

"This is Fairfax Radio. It's not some obscure, zany radio interview," the source said.

"It was prime time in Perth. Nobody could have anticipated this."

Even the Prime Minister's avowed detractors yesterday joined the outrage over Sattler, whose outburst has been attributed by some to his sliding ratings (down 1.1 points last month to just 8.4 per cent) and others to ailing health. Sattler, 67, suffered a stroke last year and recently revealed he was suffering from Parkinson's disease.

From supremo shock jocks Neil Mitchell in Melbourne to Ray Hadley in Sydney, political enemy Kevin Rudd and human headline Derryn Hinch, there was a uniform spirited public defence of the Prime Minister and calls for the sexism to stop.

"That's just appalling," former prime minister Kevin Rudd said. "I mean Sattler should just hang his head in total shame.

"What sort of base attitudes give rise to that? It's just wrong."

Hadley noted "the sexuality of anyone, be it her partner or anyone else, is no one's business."

Hinch admired the dignified way Ms Gillard responded, saying that "I thought the Prime Minister showed a lot of class, a lot of style. She should have leaned across the desk and slapped his face."

Mitchell described Sattler as a "nice, gentle man. But yesterday he did something stupid".

He said the attack was not necessarily sexist.

"It is an offensive issue," he said. "It's offensive to hairdressers, it's offensive to gays, it's offensive to all sorts of people. But is it offensive to women?"

Speaking at a school in South Australia, which yesterday became the third state to sign up to her Gonski reforms, the Prime Minister said she hoped the attack wouldn't deter other women from entering politics.

"I want young girls and women to be able to feel like they can be involved in public life and not have to face questioning like the questioning I faced yesterday," she said.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick's concerns mirrored those.

"The fact is that, from the PM down, so many women in public office, whatever side of politics they come from or women at senior business level, I think there is - there is still a significant demeaning attitude, sexist questions, invasive questioning," she said.

"It's got to stop because we want women in public office."

Sattler no stranger to controversy















Sattler meanwhile intends to take legal action because he had six months remaining on his contract.

“I’ve given 28 years of my professional life to this station,” he said.



He said he did not regret his question to the Prime Minister



“I’ve asked much more personal questions of previous prime ministers,” Sattler said.



“Given that I had done all that preparation and I alerted her to the fact I wanted a candid interview and they agreed … and I said to her quite clearly if I step over the mark, or words to that effect, if I go too far, stop me.



"I don’t want a medal for it but I’ve done lots of good for lots of people.



"I’d like to think I could have gone on and done more good for people.”

Mr Boylen told PerthNow he wouldn’t comment further on Sattler’s sacking or the threat of legal action.



“What Howard does is up to Howard,” he said.



Talkback anger after termination

Shortly after the announcement, 6PR announcer Jane Marwick asked callers to not take their anger out on staff producers who were answering calls at the popular talk-back radio station.



“If you would like to vent your anger, please don’t shoot the messenger if you get my meaning,” she said.



“It’s difficult, yes; Howard Sattler’s contract has been terminated with the radio station and it is a really difficult afternoon here, please be respectful and mindful that the people picking up the phones are just there trying to provide a service.”



News director Rod Tiley hosted the 3pm Drive program in place of Sattler.



“I am here because Howard isn’t,” he told listeners.



“Like most other people at this station, I personally like Howard a lot, I admire his tenacity in his fight against his now well-documented challenges but like the others I can’t and I won’t condone the line of questioning for which he has now been terminated.



“Regardless of whether or not you support Julia Gillard’s side of politics or her personally, I think you would agree that she handled a very difficult situation well yesterday."



Mr Tiley said management had been loyal to the radio host through his health struggles and didn’t take the decision lightly.



“He’s been a great servant to this city,” Mr Tiley said.



“The general manager and all the middle management admire Howard, what he’s been through and what’s he’s achieved for this network.



“They had to make a decision and it was a decision that was not made easily."

PICTURES: The life and times of shock jock Howard Sattler



Several callers told the station they were “livid” with the decision and demanded Sattler return to the station next Monday.



“He did nothing wrong,” one caller said.



One woman held back tears as she thanked Sattler for his years of service.



“Howard, I love you, I’ve always loved you and I wish you all the best for the future.”



But others said he was “totally out of line” in his questioning of the Prime Minister and had been “downright rude” to other people he had on the show.

Mr Tiley said the lines had been lit up all afternoon at the station, with callers keen to talk about the issue.

Coalition avoids Sattler

The Coalition was keen to avoid another fundraising controversy, after revelations Sattler was to host a Liberal Party function next month were aired on Channel Seven.



Sattler had been set to host a Liberal Party function in Mandurah, Perth, but the appearance was cancelled.



Ben Morton, WA director of the Liberal Party, said Sattler had been booked through a speakers bureau and did not have a standing affiliation with the party.



"A decision was made to cancel the function this morning," Morton said. The function was raising money for the Mandurah branch and was to be held a the Old Mandurah Yacht Club.

Julia Gillard stays silent



Julia Gillard told reporters in Adelaide today she would not be taking questions on the controversial interview.

"I'm aware that a number of you want to ask questions in relation to yesterday's interview,'' she told the gathered media.

"I'm not intending to make any comments on that interview.''

Ms Gillard added she was concerned such questioning could have a chilling effect on women and girls becoming public figures.

"I don't want to see a message like that sent to young girls,'' Ms Gillard said.

"I want young girls and women to be able to feel like they can be included in public life and not have to face questioning like the questioning I faced yesterday.''

Howard Sattler's health battle

Cabinet minister Penny Wong dismissed the radio interview as an inappropriate attempt at "gossip''.

"I think most Australians would be surprised that someone holding the office of Prime Minister would get those sorts of questions,'' she told ABC radio.

"There are far better things to talk about.''

The Senator said such questioning did not reflect what Australians wanted to hear about.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine also condemned the PM's treatment during the interview.

But he said it added nothing to talk about the issue on radio and it should be put aside.

"I think that the way the Prime Minister was treated yesterday was absolutely disgusting, appalling and totally inappropriate and the less said about it to inflame it and make it worse, the better,'' he told ABC radio.

"It doesn't matter what you're talking about in politics, picking on people's shape, religion, background, is totally inappropriate, totally wrong.

"I want to talk about real issues.''

NSW Minister for Women Pru Goward said the question from Sattler and the "Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail'' menu were vulgar, but no worse than what had been dished out to the PM's male predecessors.

"I think it's a very intense political environment and there is huge personal animosity to the Prime Minister, and inevitably some of that will attach to her gender,'' she told AAP in Sydney today.

"It is not the first time that appalling things have been said to and about Prime Ministers.

She recalled John Howard being asked "appalling'' questions about his wife.

"I think you will find that people have short memories ... it's what happens to Prime Ministers,'' she said.

During the interview, Ms Gillard also suggested that while the marriage act should not be changed to include same-sex marriages, new ‘institutions’ should be developed to recognise them.

"I do think that we should recognise all relationships of love including same-sex relationships but I feel that marriage has had a particular status in our culture and that we can grow new institutions and new ways of recognising relationships,'' she says.

"I think the fact that I’m not married shows obviously, I think, that you can have a relationship that’s committed and full of love and full of significance in your life without being married.''

Sattler's line of questioning seemed to rattle Ms Gillard at times, who told him the Federal Election was on September 12 - it's on September 14.

Howard Sattler is no stranger to controversy.

The 68-year-old 6PR talkback host is a radio veteran, and was the talkback king of Perth in the 1980s and 1990s.

He made his debut on Media Watch in 1990 after saying “good riddance to bad rubbish” about the death of three Indigenous children who were killed when the stolen car they were in crashed while being chased by police.

He was hauled before a hearing by the Australian Broadcasting Authority in 2000 in the cash-for-comments inquiry, which investigated deals he had with Optus, Qantas and Mitsubishi.

Sattler left his top-rating show on Perth’s 6PR in 2000 after 18 years with the station to join Sydney’s 2SM.

After a fairly unsuccessful stint in Sydney, and a period broadcasting to the east from his home studio in Perth, Sattler returned to 6PR.

He was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, after first displaying symptoms in 2011. Radio listeners accused him of being drunk on air.



- with Amy Wilson-Chapman, Erienne Lette, Kaitlyn Offer and AAP