Dave Tollner, the Northern Teritory’s Deputy Chief Minister, has resigned from his position.
Tollner was revealed to have insulted the son of a fellow Country Liberal party member calling him a “shirt lifter” and “pillow biter”.
Tollner had apologised to the son fellow politician Gary Higgins but many of the politicians colleagues had lined up to say that they would no longer work with him.
The Northern Territory’s Cheif Minister Adam Giles labeled the comments ‘unacceptable” and “not appropriate”.
In announcing Tollner’s resignation the Chief Minister refused to confirm if he had asked for the resignation and held back from condemning the comments.
“I’m not in the role of providing personal comments. My job as Chief Minister is to say that we have had a change in the deputy leader role,” Giles said.
Earlier Tollner had appeared on local radio declaring that he did not understand the public concern over his comments arguing that comments he said in private should not be of a concern to the wider public.
“No one wants to see this sort of stuff splashed all over the media,” Tollner said.
“That’s the most damaging thing of this … I can’t see what I’m going to publicly apologise for. If I said (the slur) publicly, I think there would be a public apology required. My point though is that this wasn’t a conversation that was ever meant to be public.
“I have no issue with gay people at all. It’s not something that worries me at all.”
Labor Leader Delia Lawrie said she was relieved that Tollner had stepped down but criticised Chief Minister Adam Giles for failing to show leadership.
Tollner will now take a seat on the back bench.
