Prime Minister’s harassment claim ‘absolutely a misstep’: Tanya Plibersek

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has blasted as “extraordinary” Scott Morrison’s bungling of a press conference in which he made a false harassment claim.

Mr Morrison fronted the media on Tuesday to address the current political storm concerning allegations of sexual assaults and misconduct in Canberra.

He acknowledged the “rubbish and crap” women have had to endure, but the day ended with him making a late-night apology for insensitive remarks.

It came after he falsely claimed a News Corp journalist was the subject of a harassment complaint over an incident in a toilet when trying to deflect a question from a Sky News journalist about the culture in Parliament House.

Labor’s Tanya Plibersek labelled Mr Morrison’s harassment claim “extraordinary”.

“It was a pretty extraordinary thing to do in the middle of a press conference to attack a media organisation like that,” Ms Plibersek told ABC TV.

“It looked very much like he was trying to stop journalists asking questions, which is not what we want at the moment.

“But there’s a deeper problem with what the Prime Minister did yesterday, which is right now we’re engaged in a big review of culture here at Parliament House. To participate in that review, people have to have confidence that they can come forward and tell their story confidentially. What the Prime Minister did yesterday really undermined that.”

Federal Liberal MP Katie Allen said Mr Morrison did the correct thing by apologising.

“I think he was quite right to apologise, but he was trying to make a wider, broader point that this is not just one workplace, this is right across society, and he was trying to make that point in a very stressful situation of questioning,” Dr Allen told ABC TV on Wednesday.

“Absolutely a misstep. I completely agree with that. Let’s move on.

“What I’m interested in is a Prime Minister who’s delivered a safe country through COVID last year and who has delivered a strong economy, and I like to see him deliver what we would regard as one of the most difficult problems for women across this country.”

Senior Liberal Sussan Ley rejected Mr Morrison had blown an opportunity to publicly address the important issues facing women at work and in broader society.

“I honestly didn’t think that. There is a lot of cut and thrust in media conferences. and if you look at any of the media press packs in Parliament House there’s just a lot of that argy-bargy that goes on. The catalyst for change message is the real one I took from yesterday,” she told the Nine Network.

“I saw human heartfelt emotion and that was important and that came across, and more importantly, I saw yesterday as a turning point.”

However, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the Prime Minister’s harassment claim was a “bad look”.

“As a government, they have a particular responsibility to show leadership, and it’s very clear that that hasn’t been happening up to this point,” he told Cairns radio 4CA.

“And there was, I think, a bit of a view in the government that this was an issue that was impacting and being talked about by just a few people and that it wasn’t a mainstream issue.

“They just got that wrong, and I think that was what Scott Morrison was acknowledging in the first part of his press conference before it all went downhill yesterday.”

The Prime Minister has been dealing with a barrage of questioning over his office’s handling of the alleged rape of Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins and a broader toxic culture at Parliament House.

A coalition staffer was sacked on Monday after reports he performed a solo sex act on the desk of a female Liberal MP, sharing a video of the incident with colleagues.