Gay Australian Ambassador Offers Resignation After Prime Minister Asks His Partner To "Wait In The Car" During Official Business
[caption id="attachment_198813" align="aligncenter" width="605"]
Tony Abbott[/caption]
Australia's ambassador to France offered his resignation this week following an incident preceding Prime Minister Tony Abbott's visit to Paris last month.
According to the Sydney Herald, Abbott requested that the ambassador, career diplomat Stephen Brady, have his same-sex partner of 32 years, Peter Stephens, "wait in the car" rather than join him on the airport tarmac to greet the prime minister upon his arrival.
"It was understood that no explanation was given," the report claims.
Je reçois Monsieur Stephen Brady, Ambassadeur d’Australie en France. #DirectAN #Diplomatie pic.twitter.com/7zQHKrvDm2
— Claude Bartolone (@claudebartolone) February 4, 2015
Brady rejected the request and brought his partner along to the greeting ceremony anyway, where a spokesman for Abbott claimed "the prime minister was very happy to be met by [both men]." He denied any such request was made in the first place.
[caption id="attachment_198812" align="aligncenter" width="605"]
Brady and Stephens[/caption]
According to an earlier report by the Herald, Brady was so fumed he was "literally screaming" at the protocol officer who passed on the initial request by Abbott.
Though Abbott opposes marriage equality in his country, he has by all accounts been generally accepting of ambassador Brady and his partner in the past.
During his trip to Paris, the PM reportedly invited the couple to a staff dinner and, before Brady left to take the job in Paris, even hosted a farewell dinner for the couple.
Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told ABC's Radio National Tuesday night that he doubted the story was true because, as he understood, "the Prime Minister was very happy to meet the both of them."
"In fact the prime minister knows Stephen Brady very well, [and] no doubt he has met his partner Peter before," he added.
Brady's resignation was rejected, but he has refused to comment on the situation.
