Sunrise presenter Nat Barr has confronted One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce over whether party leader Pauline Hanson should apologise for remarks involving Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s late mother.
Hanson has faced growing backlash after previous comments resurfaced about Albanese’s often-told account of being raised by his single mother, Maryanne, in public housing.
The One Nation leader questioned why Maryanne Albanese, who experienced significant health issues throughout much of her adult life, had stayed in public housing for so many years.
“Housing commission houses should not be there for people to live in them for 30, 40 years, and he said his mother lived in the same one she was born in for 65 years,” Hanson said during an appearance on The Karl Stefanovic Show in January.
“Sorry, that is not on, to me. It should be limited time; you have been given a hand up, move it on to the next ones coming through.”
During a tense Sunrise interview on Monday, Barr repeatedly pressed Joyce on whether Hanson owed the Prime Minister an apology.
“I don’t know the Prime Minister’s mother. I’m sure she’s a very, very good woman,” Joyce said initially.
“The circumstances of the Prime Minister’s mother are a story about her life.”
Sunrise host Nat Barr and One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce faced off in a heated interview on Monday
Pressure is mounting on One Nation leader Pauline Hanson to apologise to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over her remarks about his late mother, Maryanne
He then took a brutal swipe at Albanese over the number of properties he owned before standing by Hanson over her comments about people living in public housing for the long term.
‘The whole log cabin story of living in a housing commission home that the Prime Minister rolls out over and over again for a person who owns multiple houses. And good luck to him, and God bless him,’ Joyce continued.
‘He’s about to live in a $4.5 million house on the Central Coast. It just doesn’t wash.
‘We need public housing as a safety net. It shouldn’t be there sort of in continuum so that people just basically stay there forever because it makes it tougher for other people,’ he said.
Barr admitted he had a valid point before pressing him again.
‘But do you think Pauline should apologise in this case when basically the Prime Minister’s mother, who was an invalid for most of her life, is being questioned for living in public housing?’ she asked.
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Joyce replied: ‘I actually listened to it. She didn’t say that she was a bad woman or she that, you know, that she had done some form of theft or anything like that.
‘The question was put to her about public housing, and I stand by what she said.’
Pauline Hanson (pictured) questioned why Albanese’s mother, who battled serious health problems for much of her adult life, remained in public housing for decades
Albanese with his newborn son Nathan and mother Maryanne, before she died in 2002
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He was then asked a third time if Hanson should agologise.
‘That’s really a question for Pauline to answer,’ Joyce said.
‘I’m not going to start answering questions on anybody else in the parliament.
‘I’m going on what was said, which is whether you should be able to live in public housing for 65 years.’
Also appearing on the segment was Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek, who leapt to the defence of Albanese’s late mother before lashing out at Joyce.
‘I did know Maryanne. She was a gorgeous woman,’ she said.
‘She spent half a life in and out of hospital, and during that time, Anthony was either on his own or when she was home, he was caring for her.
‘He was doing everything for her.
‘Barnaby, when you were a kid, you were at a beautiful boarding school, getting three meals a day, being beautifully looked after.
‘He (Albanese) was the carer in his family.’