One Nation MP Mark Latham has been slammed over an ‘appalling’ tweet attacking the Channel Nine election debate host Sarah Abo.
The 60 Minutes host struggled to control Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese during the fiery clash between leaders at the Channel Nine studios on Sunday.
In the wake of the tumultuous debate between the two leaders, Mr Latham last night tweeted a joke about her last name.
‘Never trust an Abo with something as important as that,’ the MP said.
One Nation MP Mark Latham (pictured) has been slammed for a ‘tasteless’ tweet attacking the leaders debate host Sarah Abo
Mr Latham took to Twitter following the tumultuous debate to criticise Abo’s performance with a tweet that quickly caught the attention of other users
‘Not sure about this one Mark’, one tweeted while another asked the NSW upper house MP: ‘You know we can see this, right?’
‘Snickering like a schoolboy I bet. C’mon Mark, this is tasteless. And you know it,’ another user said.
‘Wow, I mean wow. I’m old enough to remember when even Mark Latham didn’t say this sort of stuff out loud,’ a third agreed.
‘And you wonder why no one asked for your two cents,’ another replied to the MP.
The One Nation MP posted a string of tweets during the debate on Sunday evening, at one point calling the discussion a ‘s***fight’ and saying ‘Abo has lost control’.
The social media pile-on led Mr Latham to describe Twitter as a sewer on Monday morning.
Daily Mail Australia has sought comment from the controversial politician.
Mr Albanese (left) and Mr Morrison (centre) have been slammed for their ‘terrible’ treatment of 60 Minutes host Sarah Abo (right( after refusing her requests they move on
It comes as Mr Albanese and Mr Morrison were slammed for their ‘terrible’ treatment of Ms Abo, a 60 Minutes reporter who previously cut her teeth at SBS.
Both continued to bicker and shout over the top of one another despite her pleas for them to stop.
In one uncomfortable moment the host noticeably struggled to get a word in during a drawn-out discussion about China and the Solomon Islands.
‘I think we are getting more questions … Excuse me. I think we’re getting more questions between the two of you than from our panel,’ Ms Abo said.
As the pair continued to bicker she tried again to moderate but was waved off by Mr Morrison who told her he was in the middle of making ‘a very important point’.
‘Mr Morrison and Mr Albanese, this is enough, we do need to move on,’ she said.
After her pleas fell on deaf ears for the second time, she was forced to remind the leaders they had both agreed to play by the debate rules.
‘You all agreed to the rules this evening. Chris Uhlmann has a question, and we will move on to his question,’ she said.
In one uncomfortable moment the host noticeably struggled to break the pair up during a drawn-out discussion of China and the Solomon Islands
Viewers were quick to criticise the leaders (pictured) for their blatant disrespect for Abo and said the constant interruptions made for a poor leaders debate
Just moments later, the host was ignored once again by the fired-up Labor leader.
‘Something that Mr Albanese — we have a question. Mr Albanese, we have given you more than enough time,’ she told him.
‘The pair of you have had more than enough time. You agreed… You agreed to these rules before coming on the program tonight.’
Viewers criticised both leaders for their blatant disrespect for Ms Abo.
‘The flippant dismissal and wave of his hand to Sarah Abo just now is not going to do much for Morrison’s “woman problem”,’ one woman wrote.
‘This is truly terrible. Where is the moderator,’ one commentator asked on Twitter.
‘Letting them talk over each other makes for a pretty poor #leadersdebate,’ another agreed.
The network initially declared Mr Albanese as the preferred Prime Minister between the pair despite the glitch leaving thousands unable to vote online
Mr Albanese (pictured) said the Solomon Islands’ new secret security deal with China amounted to a ‘massive foreign policy failure’ by the Government
Frustrated viewers also complained of a faulty online voting poll which at one point listed the Coalition twice, forcing Channel Nine to address the technical glitch.
‘We are experiencing high volumes of traffic at the moment. Please bear with us and you will have the chance to have your say,’ the network tweeted.
‘Was pressing Labor for over a minute, decided to record and tap a few more times – nothing. Clicked Coalition for a gag, and as I went to click it again it worked immediately. Uh, rigged? #LeadersDebate,’ one woman tweeted.
The network initially declared Mr Albanese as the preferred Prime Minister between the pair despite the glitch leaving thousands unable to vote online.
It later announced Mr Morrison as the winner before votes shifted back towards Mr Albanese and was later locked at 50-50.
Viewers at home found themselves unable to vote on their preferred leader with a technical glitch also listing the Coalition twice as frustrated voters took to Twitter to complain
The second debate between the two leaders left many viewers unimpressed by the coverage
On national security, the Labor leader said the Solomon Islands’ new secret security deal with China amounted to a ‘massive foreign policy failure’ by the Government.
He also blasted Mr Morrison over the Northern Territory government leasing Darwin Port to a Chinese company in 2015 – which Mr Morrison defended by saying the Commonwealth Government had no say in the deal.
Mr Morrison savagely blasted his opponent in a high-tempered brawl over their policies on a federal anti-corruption commission the PM has failed to deliver.
He said Mr Albanese had not even tried to come up with his own version of a corruption commission after rejecting the Coalition’s model.
‘Do you have draft legislation for the commission,’ Mr Morrison asked his opponent.
‘You have put forward a private members bill. So you can but you have not done one for this proposal you are excited about. You don’t have any plan.’
Mr Morrison (pictured) savagely blasted his opponent in a high-tempered brawl over their policies on a federal anti-corruption commission the PM has failed to deliver
In the early stages of the showdown Mr Albanese slammed the Prime Minister’s plan to ease pressure on households with one-off additional tax relief for low and middle income earners and the temporary halving of fuel duty until September.
The first fiery moment of the night came after Mr Morrison spruiked his Budget measures to ease cost of living pressures.
Mr Albanese replied: ‘The problem with what Scott just said [is that] the cost of living measures that he spoke about are all temporary.
‘They have all the sincerity of a fake tan – they disappear once people have cast their vote and people are back on their own again.’
Source: Daily Mail