A Labor MP has apologised for urging Sarah Henderson on national TV to “shut up for two seconds”.
Ms Henderson, the Liberals’ Member for Corangamite, said she accepted Tim Watts’ apology for the live Sky TV incident.
But she declined to say whether it was sexist, instead describing her federal counterparts’ words as “offensive”.
The pair was debating energy policy when Ms Henderson interjected as the Gellibrand MP tried making a point about the last Federal Election.
“Sarah, if you can just shut up for two seconds,” he said.
Ms Henderson immediately stopped speaking and turned toward him with an open mouth, apparently shocked.
She later retweeted a Coalition Media post that included a video of the exchange and an acknowledgement of Mr Watts’ “classy contribution”.
Ms Henderson told the Indy she was “very surprised” when he told her to shut up.
“It was pretty offensive,” she said.
“We were participating in a political debate on Sky News, not a Sunday picnic.
“Mr Watts was clearly frustrated that Labor’s plan to increase household power bills by $200 a year had been exposed. But this was no reason to tell me to ‘shut up’.
“Mr Watts did subsequently apologise which, of course, I accepted.”
Mr Watts, whose electorate office is on Geelong Road in Footscray, confirmed to the Indy he had apologised to Ms Henderson.
“Yes, I apologised to Sarah after coming off air,” he said.
In 2014 Mr Watts wrote in The Australian about violence against women and its links to “sexist, patriarchal” attitudes among men.
