Justice Thomas was one of the Supreme Court members who dissented in the 5-4 ruling legalising gay marriage. Senator Abetz seized on the judge's views when he rejected interviewer Justin Smith's proposition that a cake shop refusing to bake a cake for a gay couple was the same as racial discrimination. Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz. Credit:Andrew Meares "Those sort of analogies are quite offensive and that sort of analogy was completely debunked by Justice Clarence Thomas, the negro American on the Supreme Court of the United States dealing with this issue … who dissented on the issue of marriage as well," Senator Abetz said. Senator Lambie, an independent senator from Senator Abetz's home state of Tasmania, said it was clear the former employment minister was not coping well with his demotion from cabinet and his dumping as the government's leader in the Senate. "Eric's gone from being top of the game to the back, back, backbench," Senator Lambie told Fairfax Media on Friday.

She predicted there would be pressure from Tasmanian Liberals for Senator Abetz to move aside and bring his 21-year parliamentary career to an end. US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She also said he should "get out now" while he still retains "whatever dignity he's got left". "If I were Malcolm Turnbull I'd be keeping a very close eye on him because he's becoming erratic." Fairfax Media has approached Mr Turnbull's office for comment.

The Oxford Dictionary says the word "negro" is an offensive term referring to a member of a black or dark-skinned group of peoples that exist or originated in Africa south of the Sahara. Eric's gone from being top of the game to the back, back, backbench It also refers to a name applied by colonists in Australia to Aboriginal people. Senator Abetz's conservative ally in the Senate, Cory Bernardi, leapt to his friend's defence. "I am sure I am not alone in seeing the irony of Jaquie Lambie lecturing others in dignity and erratic behaviour," he said.

Senator Abetz and Kevin Andrews, social conservatives and cabinet ministers in the former Howard government, were close allies of former prime minister Tony Abbott. They opposed Mr Turnbull's ascension to the prime ministership and were subsequently sacked from cabinet. Last month, in his first comments since being sacked, Senator Abetz emailed supporters claiming there had been "hundreds of resignations" from the Liberal Party in protest. But the president of the Tasmanian Liberals took to Facebook to say there had been only seven resignations and eight new applications to join. Senator Abetz's use of the word "negro" came just one day after he bemoaned being labelled as a member of the Liberal Party's "religious right".

"How often, for example, have I had to put up with the tag of 'religious right' or 'far right', whereas you hardly ever hear it of the 'religious left' or the 'irreligious left' or the 'far left' or the 'extreme left' when talking about the Australian Greens or vast elements of the Australian Labor Party," he said.



"It's this sort of subtle stereotyping and slapping labels on people that a number of my colleagues have got a bit sick and tired of and as a result I gave expression to it." Follow Latika Bourke on Facebook