Labor hits back at Nazi Downfall comments
- AAP
- February 03, 2013
- Resignation of senior ministers shows government is 'dysfunctional'
- Gillard Government "unravelling on a daily basis"
- Remarks are hurtful and offensive: new Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus
- Rudd shows his soft side | Family first for Roxon
REMARKS comparing the federal government to the Nazi party are offensive and hurtful, new federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.
Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne earlier today said the Federal Government is unravelling like Hitler's Third Reich in the movie Downfall.
Speaking to reporters in Adelaide, Mr Pyne said the shock resignations of Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and Senator Leader Chris Evans after the Prime Minister announced a September 14 election showed the government was divided and dysfunctional.
"This government is starting to resemble a scene from Downfall,'' Mr Pyne told reporters in Adelaide, referring to the 2004 film that depicts the final days of Hitler's reign.
"This government is starting to resemble a scene from Downfall," Mr Pyne said.
"This government appears to be unravelling on a daily basis. If this is what it's like after three days of election campaign, what would another three years of a Labor government do?''
Mr Pyne said the Coalition by contrast had a stable frontbench.
"We don't have a great need to reshuffle our frontbench because we're very happy with the job they're doing.''
Mr Dreyfus called on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to direct Mr Pyne to withdraw and apologise for the comments.
"These immature and offensive comments have no place in Australian political debate," Mr Dreyfus said.
"There is no place in Australian political debate for a comparison of any Australian government with Hitler's Third Reich.
"These comments are deeply hurtful to holocaust survivors, they are deeply hurtful to any right thinking Australian."
Mr Dreyfus said his own comments last year comparing Mr Abbott's campaign on the carbon tax to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels was different.
"That's a quite different thing, it's a very, very specific and targeted comment about the propaganda techniques."
But Australian Greens leader Christine Milne defended the reshuffle as standard procedure after resignations, not a sign of disorder or chaos.
Senator Milne says a reshuffle is appropriate after ministers announce they will not seek re-election.
"It is a normal part of governing," she told reporters in Hobart on Sunday.
"It doesn't show anything about chaos."
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/labor-woes-like-hitler-film-downfall-says-coalition-frontbencher-christopher-pyne/story-e6frfkp9-1226567604114#ixzz2Jyaha3a3
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