This Greens Senator Spent Question Time Knitting A Rainbow Scarf In A Dig At Peter Dutton
Senator Janet Rice wants members of parliament to stick to their knitting.
Over the past couple of days, government frontbencher Peter Dutton has come under fire for suggesting that Australian business leaders should stay out of the debate around marriage equality. In particular, he has been criticised for telling CEOs, including Qantas chief Alan Joyce, to “stick to their knitting”. Joyce is gay, and some people have interpreted the remark as homophobic.
Dutton’s “back to your knitting remark” is transparently homophobic and should be treated as such
— Rob Stott (@Rob_Stott) March 18, 2017
Yesterday during question time, Greens Senator Janet Rice asked Attorney-General George Brandis whether he agreed with Dutton’s comments, before suggesting parliamentarians should stick to their knitting and “knit together the support that we know is here in this parliament to deliver on marriage equality.”
She then pulled out several balls of yarn and literally began to knit.
May the record reflect that I absolutely love @janet_rice. pic.twitter.com/nQnx6WU4Nu
— Jordan Janssen (@JordanCJanssen) March 20, 2017
Rice later told her followers on Twitter that she was working on a rainbow scarf.
Brandis, for his part, defended Dutton, before launching an attack on the Greens and Labor for their decision to block the government’s marriage equality plebiscite. It sort of fell flat though. Turns out it’s hard to take someone seriously when they’re being knitted at.