Anthony Albanese has brushed off Coalition calls to publicly apologise to the Nationals MP Michelle Landry, insisting she was “actually laughing” during a heated question time exchange with the opposition leader.
The prime minister has blamed the incident on Peter Dutton for trying to correct his pronunciation of Queensland towns by calling out “Yeppoon” during an answer by Albanese that in fact referred to the Yeppen floodplain. The prime minister warned Dutton should “expect a response” for interjecting.
Leaked talking points show the Coalition intends to use the incident to argue Albanese is not “prime ministerial” and will continue to insist on an apology, claiming his aim was to “humiliate” and “get personal” in response to questions.
During question time on Thursday, Landry, the member for Capricornia, said Albanese had broken a “personal guarantee” on funding for a road project in her electorate near Rockhampton in Queensland.
Albanese began speaking about work done on the Yeppen flood plain in the area. Dutton then appeared to interject, calling the word “Yeppoon” across the chamber. Albanese responded, more loudly than before: “Yeppoon is a different place.”
Landry was seen laughing on a video feed of the parliament.
Albanese continued mocking Dutton, before appearing to turn towards Landry, who was also interjecting.
“You were in government for almost a decade and you haven’t dug a hole on the project. Environmental approvals are not finished,” he said.
“We will get this project done like we got the Yeppen flood plain done, like we got roads to Yeppoon done as well.”
Following question time, the Liberal deputy leader, Sussan Ley, said Landry had left the chamber “in tears”. Landry then held a press conference accusing Albanese of “bullying”.
On Friday, Albanese told Sky News the footage shows “an exchange with Peter Dutton, not the member for Capricornia”.
“He didn’t know his Yeppoon from his Yeppen. They’re two different places,” he said. “He thought he was being smart, saying that I was somehow mispronouncing [the name].”
Albanese said the footage “shows during that time, Michelle Landry actually laughing at my response”.
“That was good humoured. A bit of a joke about Queenslander, which is, of course, a reference to the fact that Peter Dutton didn’t seem to know his Yeppoon from his Yeppen and that’s why [when] the speaker looked at it, [he] said there’s nothing to see here.”
Albanese said he had called Landry because he is “always concerned if someone is upset” but insisted Dutton should “expect a response” for interjecting to an answer.
In Ley’s talking points, seen by Guardian Australia, the Coalition claims the incident “is not about politics” and argues “the behaviour of Anthony Albanese has continuously not been prime ministerial”.
“He needs to realise parliament is a workplace, he is not there to just ‘fight Tories’, he is there to lead the nation and a lot of Australians are doing it tough.
“I know what I saw, so do my colleagues and … when a colleague comes to my office in tears, I am going to stand up for her.
“Prime minister, it has to stop. He has to apologise to Michelle in parliament.”
Landry told Sky News that Dutton had made a “genuine mistake” about the place names, but criticised Albanese for “screaming” at her after he “had a go” at the opposition leader.
“I’ve had male and female colleagues sitting behind me saying the direction was pointed right at me,” she said.
“I’m not a wallflower, I’m not a feminist by any means but I just felt it was out of control … him screaming directly at me, pointing at me, then when it ended all his MPs, male and female, laughing, jeering and pointing.
“If you look at that whole footage, you see it took quite a while for the speaker to bring them under control … I just felt like I was humiliated in there yesterday.”
Landry argued that if “Peter Dutton did that to one of their female politicians, every leftie organisation in the country would be outraged”.
Landry said Albanese’s answer was “making out that I’d done nothing in the nine years [since] I’d been elected”.
She noted the prime minister “did ring me and apologise”, but said, “if he didn’t think there was a problem, why did he ring me to apologise?”
“It’s done now. But my female colleagues in the Coalition decided to call it out because we’re sick of being treated like doormats.
“It’s about time people realise conservative females are actually human beings as well, it’s not just about the left.”
