A number of Coalition MPs have walked out on opposition leader Bill Shorten during his speech on “closing the gap”.
The annual presentation of the Closing the Gap report to Parliament is usually a time when both sides of politics commit to working together.
But during this morning’s proceedings, things went rather differently, Fairfax Media reports.
While Indigenous leaders clapped the speech by Mr Shorten, several Coalition MPs reportedly staged a walkout during his speech.
Fairfax reports that Shorten criticised the government for its cuts to domestic violence shelters and legal aid during the speech, which followed Tony Abbott‘s Closing The Gap address.
Shorten also highlighted the “shameful” family violence faced by many women and children in indigenous communities.
Victorian Liberal MP Russell Broadbent left the chamber first; Fairfax Media reports that others who walked out included Andrew Nikolic, Melissa Price, John Cobb, as Ken O’Dowd.
Labor’s Indigenous senator Nova Peris described the walkout as disgraceful, Fairfax Media reports.
“If we are fair dinkum about this we’ve got to stop playing political football with Aboriginal people’s lives,” she said.
Top Comments
I think Bill Shorten is a hypocrite - how about the gap he has left in the payday lending market? When he had the opportunity to fix the problem he bowed to pressure from Cash Converters among others...
I don't understand. Why did they walk out?
I think this is called bias reporting and you hit the nail on the head...where is the OTHER half of the story!! This is what we have come to expect....
Organised walkout by the Cons as is their "New, Good Govt".
They, who walked out were organised and couldn't handle the reality of over $500M+ worth of services directly cut to Indigenous health.
Let's kick this hypocritical mob out!
What a disgrace.