NSW Heath Minister Brad Hazzard was the focus of a truly bizarre moment in State Parliament yesterday, after the 68-year-old grown ass man flew completely off the handle after being fed a fairly routine question by Opposition Leader Jodi McKay.
During Question Time yesterday, McKay lightly pressed Hazzard on the issue of face masks in NSW, and the Berejiklian Government’s resistance to issue a mandatory wearing order for coronavirus hotspots in the state.
In footage posted by McKay – and edited by the NSW Labor Party, it should be stated – the Opposition Leader asked a rather simple-sounding question regarding supply in NSW.
“Do we or don’t we have enough face masks?” she asked.
Hazzard’s response was nothing short of extraordinary.
Flying into an apparently immediate rage, Hazzard launched a string of verbal attacks on McKay, ranging from the misogynistic and infantilising through to the downright rude and threatening.
Hazzard refers directly to McKay as a “goose,” “stupid,” and a “complete pork chop,” labels her the “temporary leader of the opposition,” tells her to “just be quiet, seriously,” makes repeated derogatory references to McKay’s appearance, and reduces her presence down to nothing more than a misbehaving school child.
https://twitter.com/JodiMcKayMP/status/1291255203698601985
Hazzard apologised for the remarks earlier this morning, but has since doubled down by retweeting a post from 2GB host Ben Fordham who unsuccessfully pushed McKay to admit she had “misrepresented” Hazzard’s comments.
NOW: @JodiMcKayMP tells @BenFordham she won’t correct the record and admit she misrepresented @BradHazzard‘s comments on mask supply.
— Ben Fordham Live (@BenFordhamLive) August 6, 2020
It’s worth noting that Fordham as well was combative towards McKay on 2GB this morning, declaring McKay’s questioning was “misleading” and then flat-out asserting “you lied about what you said” directly to her during a fairly shitty on-air interview.
So it’s yet another banner day for prominent conservative Sydney men all around, really.
