Jeff Kennett on Ken Campagnolo

Kennett: As bigoted as any other Liberal

Oh my god. I had to read this piece in Defamer a couple of times in order to believe I was seeing what I thought I'd seen. No, I wasn't hallucinating: Jeff Kennett really did say that Ken Campagnolo, and gay people (or in Ken's case, bisexual) in general, are paedophiles and need to be kept away from our young people in case they molest them.

"The club felt that once this had been pointed out and you had this gentleman there who was obviously close to young men - massaging young men - it ran an unnecessary risk and that's why it decided it was best that he not perform those duties again. So the club was trying to do the right thing," Mr Kennett said.

"When you are in charge of a group of young boys, as this club was as I understand it, it's got to make sure."

"It's the same if you have a pedophile there as a masseur, right? And you might say the pedophile would do no damage, but once it was pointed out to you, you have a duty of care to those underage children not to put them in a situation of risk."

Now, given that most paedophiles are straight men, more often than not married with kids of their own, wouldn't it mean that heterosexual men should be banned from contact with underage children? Oh, but that would be completely ridiculous and unworkable! Oh...

Jeff Kennett, you are one sick fuck. I wonder what Beyond Blue have to say for themselves when their almost-ex-chairman makes a statement like this? Way to go supporting the anti-gay bigotry in the community, and the high levels of depression associated with it in gay teenagers, Jeff. Or are we supposed to believe that gay and bisexual people aren't quite human don't feel pain or get depressed?

Just. Wow.