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Pengilly's dogged by controversy

After yesterday's Twitter slur against the Prime Minister, it seems it's not the first time Liberal MP Michael Pengilly has referred to a woman as 'a dog'.

In 2008, the member for Finiss referred to a woman on the Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board as a 'dead dog walking'.

At the time, The Islander, reported that Mr Pengilly made the remarks in Parliament, during a heated debated over the way the Natural Resources board was managed.

"The presiding member is a dead dog walking on Kangaroo Island, I am afraid," he said.

"She is a dead dog walking and doesn't have the respect of the local community any more."

He made the remarks about Kangaroo Island's Mayor at the time, Jackie Kelly, who said she was hurt by the remarks when interviewed.

The Islander also reported in 2008 that Mr Pengilly refused to distance himself from the remarks, saying "I'm not going to be a lapdog, I'm there to have my say."

But when questioned by 7News this morning, at a school at Yankalilla, he said he did not remember.

Political reporter Mike Smithson asked him whether he had referred to Ms Kelly as a dog before, and whether it had angered residents on Kangaroo Island, a fact that Mr Pengilly then confirmed.

"You're quite right, I recall bits and pieces of that now and I made an apology on that as well."

"I'm not perfect."