Karl Stefanovic doesn’t pull any punches as he blasts Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for his awkward parliament gaffe: ‘You’re a disgrace this morning’

Karl Stefanovic has mocked Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and branded him a ‘disgrace’ after his awkward gaffe in parliament on Thursday.

The leader of the Liberal Party was slammed in parliament by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and accused of not knowing his home state of Queensland well enough after he made a geography error by confusing the coastal town of Yeppoon with the Yeppen Floodplain.

Seizing on the gaffe on Friday, Stefanovic told Mr Dutton: ‘Queenslander! I mean, you are a disgrace this morning!’

Mr Dutton laughed off his error and said: ‘I have lived in Bundy, lived in Townsville. I have family in Mackay, Townsville, Rocky… And I’ve driven that road hundreds of times. 

‘And in fact I was only up there the week before last. We drove in. I must have been asleep as we came in because – yeah. I got it wrong. I know where Yeppoon is. I have been to the coast many times.’

Mr Dutton’s gaffe came as Mr Albanese was accused of bullying Michelle Landry, the Nationals MP for Capricornia in central Queensland.

Ms Landry rose in Question Time on Thursday to accuse the prime minister of breaking a promise.

She said the federal budget, released by the Labor government on Tuesday. delayed $800million of Commonwealth funding to construct the Rockhampton Ring Road by at least two years.

Mr Albanese’s response made reference to funding the Bruce Highway through the Yeppen Floodplain, south of Rockhampton.

This prompted Mr Dutton – also from Queensland – to interject and comment about the town of Yeppoon, more than 50km away on the coast.

The PM seized upon this geographic error to mock the opposition leader.

‘Yeppoon is a different place! And you might want to ask the Member for Capricornia, because Yeppoon is on the coast, north of Rockhampton and Rockhampton is to the south,’ he exclaimed. 

‘Yeppen Floodplain is to the south, it’s the southern entry of the Bruce Highway into Rockhampton!’

Karl Stefanovic mocked opposition leader Peter Dutton and branded him a ‘disgrace’ after AN awkward geography gaffe in parliament on Thursday

The leader of the Liberal Party was slammed in parliament by Anthony Albanese and accused of not knowing his home state of Queensland well enough after he made a geography error

Mr Albanese got a rousing cheer from the Labor Party benches and twice shook his fist towards Mr Dutton shouting ‘Queenslander!’

‘Says it all!’ he added, dismissively.

The PM then explained the history of the road project and with a consistently raised voice blasted the opposition for not getting it down while in government.

‘We will get this project done, like we got the Yeppen Floodplain done, like we, by the way, got roads to Yeppoon done as well,’ he said.

The rowdy Labor benches responded to the PM’s boisterous display by cheering, clapping, and banging their tables.

Although his display seemed targeted at Mr Dutton, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley later raised a point of order.

‘The Member for Capricornia has left the chamber in tears and in a state of high distress,’ she said.

She asked Speaker Milton Dick to review the video and consider the appropriateness of his ‘tone’ during his very shouty answer. Mr Dick said he would do so and get back to her. 

Mr Albanese appeared to be primarily addressing Mr Dutton during the period of his answer when his voice was raised, but Ms Landry insisted it was aimed at her.

Ms Landry, Ms Ley, and several other female Coalition MPs held a press conference after Question Time ended, accusing Mr Albanese of ‘bullying’ her

Ms Landry was also seen on live TV smiling and laughing as Mr Albanese’s mocking of the opposition leader carried on. 

However, Ms Landry, Ms Ley, and several other female Coalition MPs held a press conference after Question Time ended, accusing Mr Albanese of ‘bullying’ her.

‘I really do not appreciate being spoken to and screamed at by the prime minister, as I was today,’ she said.

‘I feel that I’ve been humiliated by him and the Labor Party.

‘This is not the first time that I’ve endured this stuff from the Labor Party, from the PM’s office who spread smear campaigns about me in Rockhampton.

‘I think this should be a place where we can all work together, I try to treat people with respect and how I wanted to be treated. 

‘I want to thank my female colleagues for being here with me today because we’ve all had enough. 

‘They’re a mob of hypocrites if they can say that everything is so wonderful on the left. Well, it’s not.   

‘They treat us appallingly, our female MPs and senators are treated like absolute garbage all the time by the left and we have had enough. 

‘This is about women across Australia. I have two daughters and if I don’t stand up against this bullying in the parliament, they just won’t have respect for me.’

Ms Ley then quoted a statement by Mr Albanese from months earlier, declaring parliament needed to do better to stamp out bullying.

‘More needs to be done to change the culture of Parliament House, culture sit above policy and procedure and must change,’ she quoted.

‘There’s a cultural problem with sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace in the House.’