CANBERRA, Australia - The opposition leader has drawn criticism that he is behind the times and sexist after he suggested that a key concern of Australia's "housewives" when discussing global warming policy would be the cost of ironing clothes.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott's efforts on Monday to undermine public confidence in the government's proposed curbs on Australia's greenhouse gas emissions has focused attention on himself instead.
Abbott, who will attempt to oust Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's centre-left government at elections this year, had been explaining to reporters at a dry cleaning business outside Canberra how the price of electricity would rise under the government's scheme.
"What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it's going to go up in price, and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up," Abbott said.
The comments were widely discussed on talk radio around Australia on Tuesday, and government lawmakers were quick to condemn them as patronizing.
"This is a leader and an opposition party that are living in the past," government lawmaker Yvette D'Ath told reporters on Tuesday, adding that she found the comments "appalling and patronizing."
D'Ath said stay-at-home moms in her electoral district did not describe themselves as housewives, nor did they stand around talking about ironing.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon, a mother of a young child, revealed that her husband did most of the family's ironing.
"I admit I had a bit of a funny discussion with my husband, who is the ironer in the family, who thought that Mr. Abbott was yet again missing the mark," Roxon told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Abbott on Tuesday dismissed his critics as "hypersensitive."
He acknowledged that ironing was not solely women's work.
"But I think in many households, it is still much more common to see the woman of the house with an iron in her hand," Abbott told Macquarie Radio Network, adding that his own appearance would not be nearly as neat if his wife did not iron his clothes.
Colleagues in Abbott's conservative Liberal Party played down the controversy.
Senior Liberal lawmaker Tony Smith dismissed the comment as a "slip of the tongue."
Abbott, a 52-year-old father of three daughters who once studied to become a Roman Catholic priest, is renowned for his conservative views on a range of subjects.