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An Australian politician has been left red-faced after being forced to admit on Thursday that he texted “my job is boring” and an expletive to a contact during a meeting.
Mark Parton, who leads the opposition Liberal Party in the Australian Capital Territory, was subject this week to a complaint alleging he sent the message to a sex worker, local media reported.
“And f**k my job is boring. Wanna swap,” Parton reportedly wrote, accompanied by a picture of a committee meeting last month, according to the Canberra Times.
After initially denying the complaint in full as a “smear”, he told journalists on Thursday that he did send the text but denied that it was to a sex worker.
He did not say who the message was sent to and defended it, arguing he was still “holding the government to account.”
“There’s a hell of a lot of private messages that are sent from a hell of a lot of people in the context of sitting days and hearings,” he said.
“I think it’s appropriate to send private messages to people that are not designed for the public realm,” he said.
“I’ve got an off-the-cuff larrikin communication style,” he admitted, using an Australian slang referring to someone with an irreverent sense of humour.
“I understand that most people’s perception of budget estimates hearings is that they’re pretty boring.”
The official complaint has been dismissed and he has referred the police to the alleged “harassment.”
In response to a request for comment from the AFP news agency, Parton’s office shared a recording of Thursday’s media conference.
Additional sources • AFP