Minister Ellis has again refused to apologise for his disgraceful treatment of a journalist, and even went a step further, disgracefully weaponising the harrow attack on a Tasmanian firearms owner as a deflection. The Minister’s responses to the Greens’ questions in Parliament with such reprehensible behaviour is well below expectation Tasmanians have for Ministers of the Crown.
The Police Minister has been condemned by local media and exposed on the national stage by Media Watch for stoking threats to the media. These criticisms have come over his response to a journalist simply asked a reasonable question about the link between owning many firearms and being target for theft.
His response was disrespectful, wrongfully accusing the journalist of victim blaming and then attempting to whip up the pro-gun trolls by provocatively sharing the exchange on his social media. Consequentially, the media union wrote to the Premier, seeking an apology to the journalist.
No apology was forthcoming from the Minister for his disgraceful behaviour, which is why the Greens followed up in Parliament. We gave the Minister multiple opportunities to apologise to the journalist for his behaviour.
Again and again, he refused to even acknowledge his own shameful behaviour, let along saying the simply word ‘sorry’. Stooping even lower, the Minister weaponised the horrific experiences of a Tasmanian who was attacked and left fighting for his life when thieves tried to steal his firearms.
The Minister’s behaviour was already below that expected of a Minister, but now he’s hit a new low. How does the Premier justify standing by this shameful behaviour?
