LABOR candidate for Benambra Jennifer Podesta last night drew furore on social media after tweeting a response to the appearance of Federal Liberal MP Kelly O’Dwyer on Sky News program The Nation.
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Ms O’Dwyer was on the program as a guest alongside Australian Labor Party national president Jenny McAllister.
During their debate Ms Podesta tweeted “Kelly O’Dwyer actually makes me glad there aren’t more female MPs in the govt”.
The tweet was later deleted but not before it was commented upon and questioned by others on Twitter.
Ms Podesta later tweeted a response: “This was a very poor choice of words brought on by sheer frustration & not a reflection of my respect for all women who enter public life.”
Last night, Ms Podesta told The Border Mail the tweet was “an utterly foolish thing to say”.
“It does not reflect what I think about women in public life or the need to have more women on all sides of the debate,” she said. “I sincerely regret the comment.”
Ms Podesta said she had been frustrated by Ms O’Dwyer’s arguments during a heated debate with Ms McAllister.
“I accept people will be disappointed and to those people I apologise,” she said.
“I expect I will be apologising for it for some time.
“It was a foolish, impulsive and thoughtless thing to do.”