Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has made his displeasure with Eddie McGuire plain, cancelling an interview with the broadcaster over his comments about holding a journalist under water.
Mr Shorten has pulled out of his Tuesday morning appearance on McGuire's TripleM radio show in Melbourne after the broadcaster said he would pay $50,000 if Fairfax AFL writer Caroline Wilson was held under water in a charity ice pool.
It's believed Mr Shorten thought it would be inappropriate to appear on McGuire's show.
The high-profile president of AFL club Collingwood has been roundly condemned, with domestic violence specialists saying his comments send a message that abuse and misogyny is OK.
Mr Shorten, who barracks for the Magpies, earlier said McGuire's comments were completely unacceptable.
"I wish sometimes that people would think about what they are going to say before they say it," he told reporters in Perth.
But deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop was more forgiving, saying his remark should be put into context and commentary around the issue more robust.
"If you are going to take offence at every silly offhand remark or attempt at humour, then you're not focusing on the really important issues of the day," she told reporters in Sydney.
Labor frontbencher Penny Wong echoed her leader's view.
"We ought not speak in ways that are suggestive explicitly or implicitly of violence ... and ways that demean people on the basis of their gender," Senator Wong told reporters in Canberra.
