‘No laughing matter’: Cairns MP apologises for ‘unacceptable’ Facebook video

Labor’s Cairns MP Michael Healy has apologised for sharing a BBC comedy sketch video on his Facebook page, saying its content was not appropriate and not a laughing matter.

During question time in state parliament on Wednesday, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie seized on the video, which Healy shared publicly on his personal Facebook page in April 2021 with the added commentary “some great one-liners”.

The clip, originally posted by the BBC in 2018, features British stand-up comic Gary Delaney delivering a series of one-line jokes, including some that referenced killing sex workers, indecent exposure and voyeurism.

“I cannot understand why the Labor Member for Cairns thought these horrific and sexually violent statements were, quote, great one liners, or why he posted this material at a time when he was the assistant minister in the former Labor government,” Bleijie said.

In a statement apologising to parliament and the people of Queensland, Healy said at the time of posting he had not watched the whole video, and he did not support or agree with its statements.

“The content of the video posted by the BBC is not appropriate and not a laughing matter by any means,” he said.

“Violence and misogyny in the community is totally unacceptable, and always has been. We all know it should not occur. I know it should not occur … I apologise once again.”

Bleijie challenged Labor leader Steven Miles to act on the revelations, saying his response would be a test of his leadership.

The deputy premier said Healy must be held to the high standards that Labor frontbenchers applied to the case of Greg Hallam, the chair of the WorkCover board, who was criticised for posts he shared on his own Facebook page.

Miles said Healy had unreservedly apologised, and he would commission a lawyer to advise on the appropriate next steps.

“I speak for the Labor team when I say the contents of the post shared by the BBC have no place in a modern Queensland,” he said.

Labor MP Grace Grace tabled two posts made by Hallam during budget estimates earlier this month, one featuring a woman in a shirt reading “slutty nurse costume”, and one with a husband calling his wife a “nag”.

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