Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters has issued a public apology for the defamatory comments she made about Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.
Waters admitted that on Feb. 21, she published a media release on her website and Twitter and made comments during a press conference that contained false and defamatory statements that Dutton, a Liberal politician, was a rape apologist.
Dutton took legal action against Waters, and she has now issued a public retraction of her comments and an apology.
“I’ve dedicated a lot of my public life to protecting women and children, and I’m very serious about it and her comments against me, I just thought, completely crossed the line,” he said.
![Australian Liberal MP Peter Dutton in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Nov. 25, 2019. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F12%2F12%2Fpeter-dutton-600x407.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
He went on to say that Water’s comments fell outside the realm of responsible public debate.
“Criticise me and disagree with my point of view. I don’t have any problem with that. That’s a part of our democracy,” he said. “But I’m not going to be defamed in that way, and people should know that if they wanna do that, there’s a price to pay for it, and I think that’s appropriate.”
Dutton said the rules—and consequences—of the real world need to apply to anonymous social media users who promote false and damaging stories.
He noted that as a public figure, “there’s a lot of crap that I cop,” which he usually accepts. But he said there needed to be “a red line.”