Mark Latham says Tony Abbott 'must have had beer goggles on'

Gabrielle Chan, political correspondent

theguardian.com, Wednesday 14 August 2013

Former Labor leader says opposition leader's remarks about 'sex appeal' of candidate Fiona Scott show lack of judgment

There were those who thought Tony Abbott’s prioritising of a candidate’s “sex appeal” were slightly inappropriate. Former Labor leader Mark Latham felt he got it all wrong.

For Latham, Abbott was not guilty of sexism. Worse, Abbott was guilty of “very low standards”, showing an appalling lack of judgment for an aspiring prime ministerial candidate in “checking out good sorts”.

The opposition leader had come under fire for his comments on Tuesday that Fiona Scott, the Liberal candidate for the New South Wales seat of Lindsay, had “a bit of sex appeal”. The Greens leader, Christine Milne, for example, said: ''What it demonstrates is that for the Coalition, female politicians are just accessories.”

But Latham took a different tack.

“By a generous interpretation, you would say she’s a rather plain, ordinary-looking woman and Abbott has exaggerated massively here to try and win her votes amongst the blokes of Lindsay,” said Latham.

“I don’t think she’s got sex appeal at all.”

A rather confused 3AW radio host, Tom Elliott, countered: “Surely what you are saying is worse?”

“I think that’s how she looks and I’m no oil painting myself. I’m a rather plain-looking person, I’ll say it about myself and Abbott has invited us to make a judgment about the appearance of his candidate claiming she’s got sex appeal,” Latham said.

“Well he must have had the beer goggles on because she’s not that good a sort and I’d rather have an aspirant for the prime ministership who is a good judge when it comes to checking out the good sorts as many Australian men do.

“In politics they say it’s showbiz for ugly people and I don’t think she’ll be out of place.”

It had been a difficult Wednesday for Abbott, who spent a fair bit of it defending his comments.

Abbott said his daughters described their father’s comments as “having a Dad moment, perhaps a daggy Dad moment”.

Scott defended Abbott, saying he and his family had been very supportive of her career.

“It is a shame in our political life that a man can’t give a woman a compliment in a light- hearted moment,” she told 2GB’s Ray Hadley.

“People want to see more light-hearted moments in politics.”

Kevin Rudd said Abbott’s remark was “pretty odd to be blunt” and that sexism, racism and homophobia had no place in modern Australia.

“If any male employer stood up in a workplace and pointed to any female staff member and said this person is a good member because they’ve got sex appeal, I think people would be scratching their heads and the employer would be finding themselves in serious strife,” Rudd said.

Scott said she had not received any calls from her female friends or family questioning the remarks and countered that the prime minister was simply trying to score “cheap political points”.

“My brothers thought it was funny and everyone who saw it, saw it for what it was, a light- hearted moment,” she said.

Greens MP Adam Bandt cited the treatment former prime minister Julia Gillard had experienced, and said the debate around sexism in the past three years could potentially discourage women from entering politics.

“People should be judged on the quality of their character,” Bandt said. “The treatment of Gillard would not be have been dished out to a bloke. The state of debate is potentially going the way that will discourage women for running.”

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