Australian PM subject of ‘grossly sexist’ menu

SYDNEY - Agence France-Presse

A dish named after PM Gillard which had ‘small breasts’ sparked anger. AFP photo

A high-profile Australian political candidate apologized yesterday for a menu at one of his fundraisers featuring a quail dish named after Prime Minister Julia Gillard which had “small breasts” and “huge thighs.”

Former Government Minister Mal Brough, now an opposition Liberal National Party candidate at national elections in September, said it was devised by a non-party member who thought it would be “humorous.” Brough told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he had not seen nor approved the menu and was “deeply apologetic.”

The menu for the event in March offered a dish called “Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail: Small Breasts and Huge Thighs and A Big Red Box.” It emerged on Twitter a day after Gillard, whose comments on misogyny last year won her global acclaim. Gillard, the nation’s first female leader, warned that government would be dominated by “men in blue ties” should Tony Abbott win the Sept. 14 vote as opinion polls are predicting.

The opposition has called the comments a “crude political ploy from a desperate PM leading a bitterly divided party” and demanded an apology. But they condemned the menu.