Liberal candidate Kristy McSweeney will be hoping to retain the electorate of Swan when the election gets underway. She’s standing for the seat which is currently held by retiring Liberal MP Steve Irons.
In a television interview the aspiring politician has declared one of her skills is being able to determine if people are a man or a woman.
Commenting on an interview last week where Britain’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper declined to offer an answer to the question “What is a woman”, McSweeney said she had the skill to determine who was male and who was female.
“Everything starts with leading your community and your community is made up of men and women.” McSweeney declared during an appearance on the Bernardi program on Sky News on Friday.
“I don’t have any problems going around the electorate of Swan and pointing out who’s a woman and who’s a man.” McSweeney said.
The former journalist said minority groups should be respected, but society should not go too far.
“Of course there are people who identify as otherwise, that’s a very, very small minority and we shouldn’t make over arching rules, or not be able to answer public statements to cater to very, very small minorities.”
McSweeney went on to tell former senator Cory Bernardi that she would be able to determine the sex of everyone in the street.
“We have to respect minorities but overwhelmingly I’m pretty sure Cory if you and I walked down the street, particularly in the electorate of Swan, I could just about tell you who was a woman and who was a man. It’s pretty basic, If you want to sit in the Australian parliament that’s probably a skill you have to learn first.” McSweeney said.
Listen to the podcast version of the show. Kristy McSweeney appears at the 35min mark.
McSweeney was a journalist and media commentator before becoming a political staffer. She is the daughter of former state minister Robyn McSweeney.
The Division of Swan is on the Labor party has its sights on for the forthcoming election. With a margin of just 3.3 it is the most marginal Western Australian seat currently held by the government.
The seat has a long history of moving between the two major parties, its previous representatives include former Labor leader Kim Beazley, who held the seat for 16 years, but later transferred to the safer seat of Brand.
Graeme Watson
16-03-21 Update: Podcast added to report, quote amended for accuracy. Originally we reported Kristy McSweeney has described people who identify as other wise as a “very small minority”, when in fact she had actually said a “very, very small minority”.
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