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Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has lambasted Opposition Leader Sussan Ley for her attack on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s leadership over his decision to wear a Joy Division band T-shirt five days ago. Ley made a speech in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon to condemn the T-shirt, accusing him of “displaying the wrong values”. Joy Division’s name comes from the phrase used to describe groups of women kept as sexual slaves in concentration camps during World War II, and Ley argued the prime minister’s decision to wear it would exacerbate the pain of Jewish Australians already dealing with rising antisemitism. O’Neil slammed Ley’s comments this morning on Seven’s Sunrise. “I’ve seen the Coalition walk down some pretty remarkable dead ends since I’ve been in politics, but I really think this one takes the cake. I’m just so staggered. “You know, this week, our government is introducing landmark reforms to bulk billing. We’re putting new contraceptives on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We’re building more homes. We’re working to get energy costs down, and the Coalition is focused on a T-shirt that the Prime Minister is wearing. That is all you need to know about Australian politics right now, a government focused on the things that matter to Australia, the Coalition off on some weird frolic that makes no sense.” Appearing alongside O’Neil was Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, who split from Ley on the issue, saying she was more concerned about the government taking “tough action” on antisemitism in Australia. “Listening to Claire, you’d think that this government was taking tough action on homegrown antisemitism... Look, there’s a lot to legitimately criticise the Prime Minister about trillion dollar debt, skyrocketing house prices and job losses in our heavy industrial sector wearing a T-shirt is not one of them... So yeah, get on with acting on antisemitism,” McKenzie said.
