A Northern Territory Coalition MP has launched an extraordinary attack on Kevin Andrews' pro-marriage stance, labelling the federal Social Services Minister "pooncy" and "pasty faced" and suggesting he should be castrated.
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Country Liberal Party MP Kezia Purick, who is Speaker in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, made the attack on Facebook on Tuesday evening, in response to Mr Andrews' argument that marriages are more stable than de facto relationships.
"Listen here you pooncy, pasty faced person from some pissant place that no one cares about, half my electorate are probably in de facto relationships and they are happy, normal living people who do their very best for their families and their communities," Ms Purick wrote.
"They work hard, try their best and believe that you judge people by their deeds not some piece of paper ...
"Go away Kevin Andrews and if you ever come to the rural area and try to tell us how to live, three words for you, green rubber ring!" in an apparent reference to a device to castrate livestock.
When contacted by Fairfax Media, Mr Andrews' office had no comment about Ms Purick's outburst.
But a spokeswoman did point to a recent article by the ABC's FactCheck that found while the majority of marriages start with a de facto relationship, for those that never marry, the chance of separating is six times higher.
On Wednesday morning, Ms Purick told ABC Radio in Darwin that Mr Andrews was "trying to force his particular Christian values on how we go about living our lives".
On Tuesday, Mr Andrews told a families conference in Adelaide that "the family, built on stable marriage, is central in our society and is the first and most important building block in a child's life".
He said that while parental break up does not automatically "spell adversity" for children, they face greater risks than if they were in an "intact family".
Ms Purick has recently used her Facebook page to criticise fellow CLP MP Dave Tollner for joking about people's sexual preferences.
Yesterday, she also posted that she was "fed up with these bastard snakes helping themselves to my silkie chooks and chickens".
Fairfax Media has contacted Ms Purick's office for comment.
