Australian PM 'sexist' for censuring lawmaker

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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was accused by a government colleague Thursday of applying a sexist double standard by insisting that a woman lawmaker seek anger management counseling when male politicians' similar behavior has been overlooked.


Prime Minister Kevin Rudd interrupted a trip to Japan to telephone the lawmaker accused of misbehavior.

Rudd took the extraordinary step Wednesday after the lawmaker Belinda Neal became the focus of a series of media reports alleging threatening or violent behavior.

Neal, a 45-year-old former union leader, has been accused of threatening and abusing staff at a nightclub last week and of kicking an opponent during a recent football match.

Neal has denied threatening or abusing nightclub staff and denied the football player's account of Neal's rough tackle, which led to her being barred from playing for two matches in the women's amateur league she plays in.

But when Rudd interrupted a business trip to Japan to telephone her Wednesday, she said she accepted his advice to undergo anger management counseling.

"I have agreed that I will attend counseling to deal with how I deal with conflict with other people," she told reporters after the phone call.

Rudd told reporters in Tokyo that he warned Neal that her political career could be in jeopardy. Neal was elected to Parliament in the November polls that brought Rudd to power.

"I spoke to Belinda Neal today and said to her that there appears to be a pattern of unacceptable behavior," Rudd said Wednesday.

But Julia Irwin, a lawmaker in Rudd's Labor Party for a decade, said former party leader Mark Latham was not required to seek counseling when he broke a Sydney taxi driver's arm during a beer-fueled argument over a fare.

"We seem to allow some of our male politicians to be aggressive and pushy, but women are expected to be meek and mild," Irwin told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Thursday.

"This is not just about Belinda Neal, this is about double standards," she added.

Rudd was in Indonesia on Thursday and was not immediately available for comment.

But Julia Gillard, Australia's first female deputy prime minister, said she supported Rudd's response which, she added, had nothing to do with Neal's gender.

Neal was not available for comment Thursday.

Latham was never charged over the 2001 fracas with the taxi driver. But after leaving politics, he pleaded guilty in 2006 to a charge of malicious damage after destroying a newspaper photographer's camera.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, although Latham's punishment was a court order to pay more than $5,000 -- the cost of a new camera.
From CNN