One Nation candidate David Archibald slammed by Anthony Albanese over 'offensive' single mother comments
Updated
Federal Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese is calling for one of Pauline Hanson's WA election candidates to be dumped for calling single mothers "lazy".
Key points:
- David Archibald said single motherhood was a "lifestyle choice"
- "I regard his comments as incredibly personally offensive," Anthony Albanese said
- Voters in Archibald's electorate called his views "antiquates, archaic"
In a 2015 Quadrant article One Nation candidate David Archibald described single mothers as "too lazy to attract and hold a mate, undoing the work of possibly 3 million years of evolutionary pressure".
"This will result in a rapid rise in the portion of the population that is lazy and ugly," he said.
He also said support payments for single mothers should be axed and described single motherhood as a "lifestyle choice".
Senior Labor frontbencher Mr Albanese, who is campaigning in Perth and was raised by a single mother, said Mr Archibald should be sacked.
"I had an enormous amount of love and I have nothing but respect for my late mum, and I regard his comments as incredibly personally offensive but more importantly offensive towards all those single parents out there," he said.
In particular, Mr Albanese took offence to the comments about single motherhood leading to an increase in "ugly and lazy people".
"The idea that if you have a single mother then somehow you're less of a human being really belongs way back in the dark ages and I find it incredibly offensive," Mr Albanese said.
The party did not respond to a request for a comment, but Ms Hanson this morning sent a tweet that appeared to confirm that One Nation would not be dumping Mr Archibald.
Archibald's views 'antiquated, archaic'
Mr Archibald is running for the seat of Pilbara.
Karratha is the electorate's biggest city and at its local shopping centre on Tuesday night his comments were not going down well.
"I think his views are very antiquated and archaic, and I think wherever possible we should be giving people hand-ups not handouts," one woman said.
"There are lots of different situations and lots of families that need support, not just single mums," a single working mum said.
Mr Archibald, who describes himself as "part-Aboriginal", has also labelled the Stolen Generations a "myth".
He said he stood by all of the comments but declined a request to be interviewed.
Polling done in November suggested One Nation would put the Nationals Leader Brendon Grylls under pressure in the seat.
The WA Greens said Mr Archibald's comments showed why the WA Liberals should preference Ms Hanson's One Nation last.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, political-parties, family-and-children, one-nation, wa
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