Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett apologized for calling a woman a “rude little bitch” on Saturday night at a Liberal Party event in Melbourne.
Kennett was giving the keynote speech at a gala ball for the Young Liberals when he lashed out at the woman, saying she had interrupted him several times.
Guests at the gala event were shocked by his outburst and Young Liberals president Dean Dell’Orso apologized.
Kennett later apologized but said there were continued interruptions while he spoke.
“I deeply apologize,” he said. Herald of the sun.
“I’m not going to try to make excuses, but you can understand that it was in response to something that happened and I felt very disappointed.”
The former prime minister said the woman had been talking to someone at her table and asked several times for the “so distracting” chat to stop.
Kennett said that although her comments were not directed at him, she was sitting right in front of where he was speaking.
Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett apologized for calling a woman a “rude little bitch” on Saturday night at a Liberal Party event in Melbourne.
He said the woman “ignored” his request to stop interrupting and “unfortunately, I made that comment which was inappropriate but as you can understand, I was very disappointed.”
A young Liberal claimed that he had previously been the subject of a tirade by Mr Kennett.
“Jeff’s fondness for verbally abusing young liberals at his own events is well established,” they said.
They then compared it to the current internal war in the Victorian Liberal Party, with leader John Pesutto being sued for defamation by his former colleague Moira Deeming.
“Jeff’s love for the sound of his own voice is matched in intensity only by his sheer desperation to prop up John Pesutto, lest the Victorian Party find electoral success, causing his legacy, such as it is, to cross the horizon.” of political irrelevance”. ,’ they told the Herald Sun.
Another young liberal said Mr Kennett’s response was “disgusting” and that “the woman was right next to me and she wasn’t even intervening”.
“Others were and she just laughed,” he said.
Some members asked for Mr Kennett to be shown the door at the event.
Amid Pesutto’s court case, Kennett has called on Liberal MPs to support the opposition leader and stop trying to undermine his leadership.
Kennett later apologized but said there were continued interruptions while he spoke (pictured, Kennett with then-premier Daniel Andrews in 2018).
Ms Deeming revolves around comments Mr Pesutto made about his attendance at the controversial Let Women Speak rally outside state parliament in March 2023.
She alleges that Pesutto falsely portrayed her as a Nazi sympathizer after she spoke at the rally, which was broken up by neo-Nazis.
Pesutto has denied any wrongdoing.
Ms Deeming has been an independent MP since she was expelled from the Liberal Party.
Pesutto previously reached agreements with anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull and Angela Jones, and publicly apologized to both for their participation in the demonstration.
Kennett donated to a fund to help cover Pesutto’s legal bills.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Kennett and the Young Liberal Movement of Australia for comment.