Q: The Liberal candidate for Fowler has had to apologise for social media posts where he repeatedly used derogatory terms to refers to Indigenous Australians. He made insensitive and offensive remarks about Tanya Plibersek’s family also. Is this the standard you will accept for Liberal candidates running in this election and indeed if elected for your government and do you not have a better candidate?

Peter Dutton:

A couple of points. He has apologised for the comments and so he should have. They were inappropriate and shouldn’t have been made. He has apologised for them.

I won’t take a lecture from the Prime Minister who has a relationship with the Greens, is accepting preferences from the Greens in his own seat, he is preferencing a Green number 2. This is an anti-Semitic Jew-hating party. (This is absolutely not true, and is irresponsibly factually incorrect) They have been involved in all sorts of horrible doxing and comments online that are repugnant but not repudiated by the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister has a candidate in Dickson, one in Flynn and elsewhere, where they have conducted themselves appallingly. The Labor candidate in Fowler has been referred to the integrity – the corruption commission. I am not going to take a lecture from the Prime Minister.

Dutton refuses to take a second question on this, pointing out that this is his candidate.