Australian politicians have lined up to condemn the outrageous remarks about assaulting women, made by Donald Trump.
The outrageous comments by the now Republican presidential nominee, in which he says he can’t help kissing women and sometimes grabs their genitals without their consent, were recorded in 2005 but were dredged up on Friday, sending his campiagn into a tailspin.
The remarks by the potential leader of Australia’s most important strategic ally drew a chorus of damnation from the country’s politicians.
Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, described the comments as loathsome.
“They deserve the absolutely universal condemnation that they’ve received,” Mr Turnbull said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the comments could not be excused, or dismissed.
“They are vile, they are repugnant, they should be condemned,” he said.
Deputy PM and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce suggested the whole US presidential race had sunk to distateful lows.
“I just think this whole debate in the United States is turning into a really dirty, filthy concoction which belies the respect the American people deserve. They’re all digging up rubbish from each other’s past, and I think the whole thing is pretty unsavoury,” he told ABC radio.
Newly elected Labor MP Emma Husar called the Republican presidential nominee “pig”, a term he has been noted for using to describe some women.
“He’s an absolute repugnant animal who deserves to have every single Republican who is well-respected over there walk away from him,” Ms Husar said.
Meanwhile, One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson said that Mr Trump’s remarks were private, suggesting that Mr Trump should be given some slack, and that it wasn’t uncommon for men to talk like that
“Let’s be honest, there are a lot of men out there that say horrific things, probably up to the same standard,” Ms Hanson said on morning show Sunrise, appearing alongside fellow Senate freshman Derryn Hinch.
“No Pauline!” Hinch responded.
“A normal man in a private conversation would not talk about this. A normal man, Pauline, would never consider invading a woman’s space so much that, in his mind, or to his mates would say, I mean that is sexual assault.”
Mr Trump himself, both in a video apology issued over the weekend and in Sunday night’s (US time) debate with presidential rival Hillary Clinton, said he felt embarrassed about the comments but also described them as just “locker room talk”.
