Abbott unruffled in ironing row
Posted
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Critics steamed up: Tony Abbott irons a shirt during his dry cleaners visit (Fairfax Media: Glen McCurtayne)
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has dismissed criticism of his remark about housewives and ironing.
During a visit to a Queanbeyan dry cleaning business yesterday, Mr Abbott said that the cost of an emissions trading scheme would hit "housewives" who used electricity to iron.
The government seized upon his comments, saying they showed Mr Abbott was old-fashioned and stuck in the past.
Labor backbencher Yvette D'Ath said she found the comment "extremely patronising" and accused Mr Abbott of being insensitive and out of touch.
But Mr Abbott has told Macquarie Radio the comment has been blown out of proportion.
"We've become so hypersensitive about all this stuff," he said.
"Sure it's not just women who do the ironing. No doubt about that. But I think in many households it is still much more common to see the woman of the house with an iron in her hand."
Australian Women's Weekly editor Helen McCabe says Mr Abbott's comments will not do him any favours with women.
"Women probably still do most of the ironing ... that's the reality, but nevertheless I don't think anybody likes to hear a male politician talk about housewives doing the majority of ironing," she said.
"He continues to play to those stereotypes of male and female roles, as much as he tries not to, and for many women who are working that would be a disappointing thing to hear.
"I think we want to make those decisions for ourselves at home. Many women outsource ironing these days, if they can afford to do it, because they're too busy.
"And plenty of men I know prefer to do the ironing because they think they can do their shirts better than their wives or partners."
Virginity debate
Ms McCabe says Mr Abbott's gaffes may not be as damaging as they might once have been.
"These gaffes just kind of roll off his tongue and I don't think they're criminal for him any more," she said.
"I think the voting public has got used to his old-fashioned views on the roles of men and women.
"It just makes people who like Tony Abbott and want to see Tony Abbott do well squirm when he does that because he continues to make those blunders, and I think going into an election campaign we're going to see more of them."
The Australian Women's Weekly recently published an article where Mr Abbott advised his daughters not to give away their virginity lightly.
The comments prompted vigorous debate and Ms McCabe said her readers responded to it in different ways.
"I think women who liked him continued to like him because he's a straight shooter, because he's prepared to say what he believes [and] he has great communication skills," she said.
"The women that like him also appreciate that he was talking about his daughters."
But Ms McCabe says there is another demographic that is not so pleased with the Liberal leader's comments.
"He describes them as the young, professional, educated, working women who have a real problem with him - and they really do have a problem with him - the dislike of Tony Abbott in that particular grouping is very vehement," she said.
"They hated it ... it reinforced every suspicion they had about him and they hate him even more for it."
Ms McCabe says Mr Abbott probably came out of that episode better than he expected because many people thought it was good advice to give to his daughters.
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76 needed to form government
State of the Parties
76 seats required for victory
|
91.6% counted.
Updated Sat Sep 4 04:46PM
|
||||||
| Party | % Vote | Swing | Won | Predict | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | 38.0 | -5.4 | 72 | |||
| Coalition | 43.7 | +1.6 | 73 | |||
| Greens | 11.7 | +3.9 | 1 | |||
| Others | 6.6 | -0.1 | 4 | |||
Changing Seats
|
91.6% counted.
Last updated Sat Sep 4 04:46PM
|
|||||||
| Time | Count % | Electorate | Held By | Margin | 2PP % | Swing | Predict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:37 | 93.5 | La Trobe | L/NP | 0.5 | 50.9 | 1.4% to ALP | ALP GAIN |
| 18:22 | 91.0 | McEwen | L/NP | 0.0 | 55.2 | 5.2% to ALP | ALP GAIN |
| 10:36 | 89.0 | Solomon | ALP | 0.2 | 51.9 | 2.0% to CLP | CLP GAIN |
| 18:52 | 83.1 | Melbourne | ALP | 4.7 | 55.6 | 10.3% to GRN | GRN GAIN |
| 17:37 | 94.3 | Denison | ALP | 15.3 | 51.2 | 16.5% from ALP | IND GAIN |
| 15:21 | 91.2 | Bennelong | ALP | 1.4 | 53.5 | 4.9% to LIB | LIB GAIN |
| 13:07 | 92.8 | Gilmore * | ALP | 0.4 | 55.3 | 5.7% to LIB | LIB WIN |
| 18:07 | 92.9 | Hasluck | ALP | 0.8 | 50.6 | 1.4% to LIB | LIB GAIN |
| 16:21 | 92.0 | Macarthur * | ALP | 0.5 | 53.0 | 3.5% to LIB | LIB WIN |
| 11:23 | 92.5 | Macquarie | ALP | 0.3 | 51.2 | 1.5% to LIB | LIB GAIN |
| 18:54 | 90.3 | Swan * | ALP | 0.3 | 52.6 | 2.8% to LIB | LIB WIN |
| 16:53 | 91.5 | Bonner | ALP | 4.5 | 52.6 | 7.1% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 17:21 | 89.8 | Brisbane | ALP | 4.6 | 51.0 | 5.6% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 11:36 | 92.7 | Dawson | ALP | 2.6 | 52.4 | 5.0% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 12:51 | 93.7 | Dickson * | ALP | 0.8 | 55.2 | 5.9% to LNP | LNP WIN |
| 14:36 | 91.1 | Flynn | ALP | 2.2 | 53.5 | 5.7% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 15:08 | 91.6 | Forde | ALP | 3.4 | 51.6 | 5.0% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 16:06 | 92.4 | Herbert * | ALP | 0.0 | 52.1 | 2.1% to LNP | LNP WIN |
| 16:37 | 90.4 | Leichhardt | ALP | 4.1 | 54.6 | 8.7% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 14:21 | 92.2 | Longman | ALP | 1.9 | 52.0 | 3.9% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
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