Broadcaster Peta Credlin has slammed the Labor Party for employing former Play School presenter Rhys Muldoon after it emerged he previously described her in social media posts as “a strap on wearing fantasy for Liberals.”
Political staffer Rhys Muldoon was sacked on Tuesday over social media posts describing Jacinta Price as “a quisling”.
It has now emerged he launched a string of vile attacks on Ms Credlin, including repeated sexual references to the former chief of staff turned broadcaster.
News24’s Peta Credlin asked if the PM would excuse “offensive slurs”. Picture: News24.
“She’s what Liberals think of Margaret Thatcher. They picture her with a strap on, pounding away at their sorry a**ses,’’ Mr Muldoon wrote in one post.
“The tragedy of Peta Credlin … is her belief that anyone other than fetishised old white men think she contributes anything apart from a compromised boner,’’ he wrote in another.
Peta Credlin told news.com.au that the Prime Minister should take responsibility for his own Labor staffers.
“Is violent, sexual name-calling really the standard that the Prime Minister now accepts in his staffing ranks?” she said.
“Why are taxpayers paying for someone (like) Rhys Muldoon to hold down a job advising politicians?
“Let’s see if the Prime Minister excuses these offensive slurs because I am conservative.
“Or, if his promise to lift the tone of politics actually means something.”
News.com.au has contacted Mr Muldoon for comment.
Mr Muldoon was let go by Tasmanian Labor Senator Richard Dowling early Tuesday morning.
“Everyone in public life has a responsibility to do better when it comes to political discourse,’’ Senator Dowling said.
“The words used were unacceptable at any time.”
News.com.au has contacted Mr Muldoon for comment.
Rhys Muldoon as Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Newell in TV police drama North Shore. Picture: Daniel Asher Smith
Muldoon in a post with Anthony Albanese.
‘Fake jew’
In other unearthed posts, he also referred to a senator, who is not Jewish, as a “fake Jew”.
“Dave (the fake Jew) Sharma advised Alexander Downer while he was illegally tapping phones,’’ he wrote.
“Dave (the pretend Jew) Sharma has been boasting about his HSC results,’’ he wrote in another.
“The truth is, on the ‘immigrant problem’, the Coalition are like a sad old whore,’’ Mr Muldoon also wrote.
The actor and star of TV shows including The Secret Life of Us previously co-authored a children’s book with Kevin Rudd called Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle.
But after moving to Tasmania, he has now resurfaced as a taxpayer-funded staffer working for Labor Senator Richard Dowling, which triggered political opponents to conduct a deep dive into his social media posts.
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma. Photo: Tom Parrish
In one post, he described Senator Price as a “quisling” during the Voice debate, where she did not support the Yes vote.
The dictionary definition of quisling is “a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force occupying their own country, often serving in a puppet government”.
The insult’s origins trace back to Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian military officer and politician who led a fascist party and aided the Nazi German invasion of Norway in 1940.
He was executed for treason in 1945, and writers including Winston Churchill and George Orwell popularised his surname as a nickname for any traitor.
“Quisling questions any fact that questions her lies,’’ Mr Muldoon wrote in a 2023 X post linking to a news story about Senator Price.
In another post, he jokingly used the n-word while making fun of Australian legal protections for free speech.
“I am protected under 28a you n*gger jew f*g dog smoking liberal voter. X,’’ Mr Muldoon wrote.
Section 28A of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), defines sexual harassment as unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature where a reasonable person would anticipate the possibility that the target would be “offended, humiliated or intimidated”.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
‘Repulsive’
Senator Nampijinpa Price told news.com.au that the remarks were unacceptable.
“Mr Muldoon’s remarks are repulsive,” she said.
“They have no place in modern Australia, and Mr Muldoon has no place working for the Australian Government.
“The Prime Minister embarrassed us all with his appallingly sexist remarks about the Prime Minister of Japan.
“Now, he’s embarrassed us all again by handing his appallingly sexist mate a plum gig in his government.
“Australians deserve so much better than a Prime Minister who preaches about decency and transparency in public, while indulging crassness and practising cronyism in private.”
