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March 20, 2015

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Australian PM criticized over latest Nazi reference

Australia鈥檚 gaffe-prone prime minister yesterday took back his second Nazi-related comment in a month after he compared the opposition party leader to German World War II-era propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Tony Abbott told Parliament that Labor Party leader Bill Shorten was 鈥渢he Dr Goebbels of economic policy.鈥

Abbott immediately said he withdrew the comment, as opposition lawmakers yelled in protest.

Speaker Bronwyn Bishop ordered Labor lawmaker Mark Dreyfus 鈥 one of only three Jewish lawmakers in parliament 鈥 out of the House of Representatives for rising from his seat to angrily berate the prime minister.

Fellow Labor lawmaker Michael Danby, also Jewish, left the chamber with Dreyfus in solidarity.

鈥淭here are no Nazis here and we shouldn鈥檛 be making comparisons with the paradigm of the ultimate evil in politics to heighten political differences,鈥 Danby said later.

Dreyfus described Abbott鈥檚 reference to the Nazi as inappropriate for a prime minister.

Abbott last month apologized for describing a 10 percent reduction in defense industry jobs under a former Labor government as a 鈥渉olocaust of jobs.鈥

Earlier this week, Abbott received an unexpected rebuke from the Irish prime minister this week for a St. Patrick鈥檚 Day video message broadcast online by his Liberal Party.

Wearing a green tie, Abbott apologized to Ireland because: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 be there to share a Guinness or two or maybe even three.鈥

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny told the Irish Independent newspaper he had seen Abbott鈥檚 comments and did not agree with them.

Kenny told the newspaper he advocated responsible celebrations and rejected 鈥渁 stage Irish perception.鈥

Some of Abbott鈥檚 colleagues openly questioned his political judgment in January when he said on Australia鈥檚 national day that he had granted Queen Elizabeth II鈥檚 husband Prince Philip an Australian knighthood.


 

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