
On Tuesday, a journalist asked cabinet minister Anne Ruston a question.
She was standing next to Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a press conference about changes to the government's JobSeeker payment in her capacity as Minister for Families and Social Services. Though the optics of the PM being flanked by a woman yesterday, was arguably no accident.
"As a woman in the government, your reflections on the culture inside, has it gotten better, worse, or no change since the bonk ban era?" Phil Coorey, the political editor of The Australian Financial Review asked Ms Ruston.
Watch: Scott Morrison interrupts Anne Ruston. Post continues below video.
It was hardly surprising. Ruston would have been expecting a question like this, given the night before the ABC aired its Four Corners investigation of alleged inappropriate behaviour, sexism and extramarital affairs by government MPs.
"Well, Phil, the only thing that I can..." Ruston began in response.
She had muttered just seven words when Morrison railroaded the conversation, cameras reverting quickly back to him as he spoke over her.
"Sorry, how this ban is referred to I think is quite dismissive of the seriousness of the issue, Phil, and I would ask media to stop referring to it in that way," Morrison said.
"We took it very seriously and I think constantly referring to it in that way dismisses the seriousness of this issue, it’s a very serious issue. Thanks, Anne?"
Having sufficiently ranted about how much he dislikes the term 'bonk ban', Morrison gestured to Ruston. She could speak now.
"I can only reflect on my own experience, since I've been in this place since 2012, and I have to say I have always felt wholly supported while I have been here," Ruston replied, adding that nobody had personally shown her more respect than Morrison himself.
For many, Ruston's eventual response was unsatisfying. But her face while being interrupted by the man who "has provided [her] more support and shown greater respect towards [her] as an individual" said much more:
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