Labor must stop victim blaming

State Labor Minister David Templeman and Member for Albany Rebecca Stephens must stop victim blaming, and unreservedly apologise for their inciting language concerning a four-year violence restraining order slapped this week on a person alleged to have threatened the life and family of Liberal candidate for Albany Thomas Brough.

Rick Wilson MP, whose federal electorate of O’Connor encompasses Albany, said unparliamentary comments made by Mr Templeman about Dr Brough were referenced by the person in a series of unhinged and homophobic Facebook posts.

Mr Templeman was made to withdraw his comments, and yesterday, before taking another verbal swipe at Dr Brough, he said he was “sorry if anything has caused any concern”.

“That disingenuous expression of regret is a disgrace given Mr Templeman’s original inciting outburst,” Mr Wilson said.

“He must now issue a sincere and unreserved apology to Dr Brough and his family, or be forced to do so by Premier Roger Cook who has said Mr Templeman’s name-calling was wrong and “inappropriate”.

“Here you have a minister of the Crown who, since announcing his retirement, feels he can go around recklessly slamming whoever he wants, under the cloak of parliamentary privilege, regardless of the grave impact on a candidate who has served Australia in the armed forces and as an emergency physician saves lives on a regular basis.”

According to the statement Dr Brough successfully tabled in court, the person involved allegedly threatened to kill him, and stated that they knew where his family lived.

Rivalling the temerity of Mr Templeman was a victim-blaming statement from Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens, reported by the ABC today.

With clear reference to the VRO taken out by Dr Brough, Ms Stephens claimed that “community pushback” on candidates was “on them”.

“This was not a heat-of-the-moment brain-fade like Mr Templeman’s, but a cold verbal barb, probably honed by a Labor spin doctor,” Mr Wilson said.

“Ms Stephens should be ashamed of herself, and should also apologise unreservedly, or be forced by Mr Cook to do so.

“She should heed Mr Cook’s condemnation of Mr Templeman, start improving her own game and ‘stop playing the man’.”

Media contact: Chris Thomson: (08) 9842 2777, [email protected]