‘I didn’t intend it that way’: Liberal senator who said the Queensland Premier is ‘the knee on the throat of businesses that can’t breathe’ claims she WASN’T referencing George Floyd
- Senator Amanda Stoker said Queensland’s state border should be removed
- She accused Premier Palaszczuk of being the ‘knee on the throat of businesses’
- It comes after George Floyd was allegedly killed by a cop with knee to the neck
- Senator said reference to African-American’s death may have been an accident
- Said his death was so prominent a subject it may have been at the ‘front of mind’
A Liberal senator who appeared to compare Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to the American police officer who allegedly murdered George Floyd has claimed the reference was unintentional.
Queensland senator Amanda Stoker on Sky News last Thursday claimed Ms Palaszczuk’s COVID-19 border closure was the ‘knee on the throat’ of local businesses which was ‘stopping them breathing’.
Northern Territory Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy led condemnation of what she called ‘abhorrent’ comments – which came just two weeks after Mr Floyd died when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin allegedly held his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes.
Liberal Senator Amanda Stoker appeared to compare Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to the American police officer who allegedly murdered George Floyd in an interview
‘What worries me most is Premier Palaszczuk knows that she is absolutely choking our economy by having these borders shut,’ Senator Stoker said in last week’s late-night discussion.
‘She is the knee on the throat of the businesses of Queensland stopping them breathing. Right?’
Addressing the furore surrounding the remark, the senator and former lawyer said her reference to the African-American man’s death may have come out because of Mr Floyd’s death weighing on her brain.
‘Look, I didn’t intend it that way, but because there had been so much discussion around that subject I suspect it was front of mind,’ she said, according to ABC News.
Senator McCarthy asked Finance Minister Matthias Cormann in the Senate on Monday for his response to the remarks – but he said he would discuss the matter with his Liberal colleague ‘separately’.
Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt said the comments were a ‘new low’ for the Liberal National Party.
Pictured: Annastacia Palaszczuk during a press conference on Monday. Stoker claimed the Queensland premier’s COVID-19 border closure was the ‘knee on the throat’ of local businesses which was ‘stopping them breathing’
African-American man George Floyd died when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin allegedly held his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes
‘Who uses the words of a dying man to score a political point?’ he asked.
The comments came as anti-racism protests erupted across the Western world following the death of Mr Floyd on May 25.
Senator Stoker earlier declined to comment on whether she referenced the death of Mr Floyd deliberately.
She told Daily Mail Australia: ‘This is nothing but a shallow attempt to use outrage to distract from the mess Labor is facing today [after the sacking of Victorian Labor minister Adem Somyurek].
Liberal Senator Amanda Stoker during Senate Question Time in the Senate chamber at Parliament House
‘It’s the Queensland Premier who should apologise to the many business owners who’ve lost their livelihoods, and the thousands of staff who’ve lost their jobs in circumstances where these border closures have gone on way too long.
‘It’s choking the Queensland economy, and it has got to stop.’
On Friday the Queensland government announced that its borders closures would end on 10 July.