Senator Jacqui Lambie defends her "well-hung" question
An Australian senator who told breakfast radio she would only date men who were rich and "well-hung" has apologised, saying she had tried to hide her embarrassment with a joke.
Jacqui Lambie, a member of the Palmer United Party founded by mining magnate Clive Palmer, says members of her staff had been inundated with abusive phone calls since her cringe-worthy interview on Tuesday morning.
“What I don’t appreciate is people that are ringing the office and abusing the staff and on radio I wouldn’t even repeat some of the words that are coming out of their mouths,” Lambie said.
“They’re degrading themselves by the way they’re speaking to them and the words coming out of their mouth are disgraceful.”
“If I can’t let me hair down a little bit and make a joke on a breakfast radio show to lighten people’s day then I think we’re in a bit of trouble."
Yesterday, Lambie told Tasmania's Heart 107.3 that she had not been in a relationship for more than a decade.
When the breakfast hosts suggested they help her find love, the mother-of-two replied: "Now they must have heaps of cash and they've got to have a package between their legs, let's be honest.
The 43-year-old's comments prompted a young male listener to ring in to say he was confident he met her criteria, in part because he had inherited some money and had experience with older women. "I'm just a bit concerned because you're so young, I'm not sure you'd be able to handle Jacqui Lambie," the outspoken politician, who served a decade in Australia's armed forces, said.The senator then asked: "Are you well-hung?""Like a donkey," he replied, as the hosts tried to get the pair together on a date before the man rang off.
Senator Jacqui Lambie left radio audiences gobsmacked by asking a caller if he was well-endowed. Photo: AAP.
Lambie later apologised for her comments which followed a string of unrelated questions by the breakfast hosts, including how she took care of hairy legs, bikini line and underarms."When Kim and Dave on Hobart's Heart FM 107.3 this morning asked me about my love life in a light hearted segment -- I tried to cover up my embarrassment by making a joke," Lambie said."A lot of people laughed, some people may have got offended."This morning, Lambie took to the airwaves again to defend her words."I'm just a normal, average Australian. That's what I am and whether I've got Senator in front or my name or not, that's not going to change," she told Fairfax Radio."I don't regret saying what I said. Like I said, it was a good fun radio show . . . if you can't have a bit of laugh over breakfast, I have to ask where's our Aussie sense of humour going?"Lambie is not the first politician caught out on radio, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott generating a storm of protest in May when he winked at a presenter during a testy radio chat with a pensioner who worked on a sex phone line.
