‘It’s ridiculous’: PM blows up over gender-neutral sign in parliament toilet
A gender diverse bathroom sign inside a parliament building in Canberra has been bluntly received by the Prime Minister, who described it “over the top”.
The women’s toilet sign, inside the Barton offices of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, stated the department was “committed to staff inclusion and diversity”.
“Please use the bathroom that best fits your gender identity,” it said.
But after being brought to Scott Morrison’s attention, he vowed to “get it sorted out” and have the sign removed, deeming it “not necessary”.
“Honestly this is why we call it the Canberra bubble, it’s ridiculous,” Mr Morrison told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Thursday.
“It will be sorted out...I don’t think this is necessary, I think people can work out which room to use.”
“It’s over the top, you don’t need to do this stuff. It’s just political correctness over the top,” he said.
Debate over the sign and Mr Morrison’s strong opinions on the matter flared up on Twitter, many baffled at the seemingly minor issue making to the top of the prime minister’s priority list, especially given his recent return from the G7 summit.
“Always men who want to control who goes into the women's toilets. If men or women (either assigned at birth or otherwise) want to queue for a cubicle in the toilets labelled ladies it doesn’t bother me one bit,” one woman wrote.
“So this is the best Scott Morrison can do after returning from the G7? Returns home and confirms he is a small town snake-oil salesman by pandering to racists and bigots. Not an ounce of the statesman. But we knew that anyway,” another said.
“Obviously the PM doesn’t have anything important on his agenda other than letting his personal religious view interfere in the running of the public service. What was that about separation of the church and the state,” a third person wrote.
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