Politician apologises for calling gay airline boss a homophobic slur in unhinged ‘p***y power’ rant
Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie addresses media on December 8, 2020 in Canberra, Australia (Sam Mooy/Getty)
Australian senator Jacqui Lambie has been banned from Qantas planes for six months after referring to the airline’s gay CEO with a homophobic slur in an explosive argument with staff.
The controversial Tasmanian politician launched into an unhinged rant in March when she was unable to access the airline’s invitation-only luxury Chairman’s Lounge.
CCTV footage of the expletive-laden outburst shows her telling employees “your CEO is a p**f” and boasting about something she called her “p**sy power”.
The Tasmanian senator has since apologised for the incident, saying her behaviour was “totally uncalled for and totally unacceptable”.
“It was the end of a long week in Canberra. I’d backed into a car that morning, got a speeding ticket on the way to work, and my flight home was delayed,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Lambie claimed she wasn’t in her usual frame of mind due to taking pain medication for an old back injury. “It was a bad day for me. But it was worse for the poor Qantas staff who had to stand and take my rant,” she added.
“It was totally uncalled for and totally unacceptable behaviour on my part. I have apologised to the staff for my actions, and I’d like to do so again.”
Qantas has not responded to Lambie’s apology, but the airline confirmed she’s been temporarily banned from using all Qantas services.
“After negotiations, a decision was made to institute a six-month suspension from early April,” the report states. The incident reportedly follows a number of other altercations between the politician and the national carrier.
Unfortunately, it’s not the first time Lambie’s anti-LGBT+ views have slipped out.
In 2017 she infamously defended the homophobes lamenting marriage equality in Australia, telling ABC: “There is still 30 per cent of those Australians that lost out on that vote and they are feeling the hurt from that. I don’t hear anyone talking about that which I find quite disturbing.
“How long are these people going to have to go through more pain? They’ve lost. They’re feeling the pain. How much longer do they have to feel more pain?”
And in 2019, as a contestant on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, Lambie mocked Tasmania’s Lower House passing trans-inclusive legal reforms that would make gender markers on birth certificates optional.
“Now we’re into moving Australia Day, we’re into transgender and making sure we can change their f**king birth certificates. Stupid Tasmania, they did that just before Christmas time,” Lambie said.
She followed up by declaring, “When you are born, you’re either a male or a female.”
