Abbott cruise ship joke ‘lacks judgment’

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has dropped a verbal lead balloon during a morning radio exchange regarding the Costa Concordia disaster, saying: “Well, that was one boat that did get stopped.”
The comment about the sinking of the Italian cruise ship came during an interview yesterday morning on the Adelaide Triple M breakfast show with Ali Carle, Dale Lewis and Warren Tredrea.
At one point during the interview, one of the hosts asked Mr Abbott: “This is just a bit from left field, the captain from the Costa Concordia wants to know if you need any help with your boat policy?”
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Tony Abbott … “Well that was one boat that did get stopped, wasn’t it.” Photo: Michelle Smith
“Well that was one boat that did get stopped, wasn’t it,” Mr Abbott replied, to laughter.
The accident involving the Concordia, which struck a reef off the Tuscany coast in Italy last Friday, left at least 11 people dead, 64 injured, and more than 3200 evacuated. As many as two dozen people remain missing.
This morning, Victorian Labor MP Rob Mitchell called on Mr Abbott to apologise for the comment.
“He has no boundaries and lacks judgment,” Mr Mitchell said.
“You have 11 people that are dead and at least 20 people missing and he is using this tragedy to make a tasteless joke. It shows he is unfit to be leader.”
Mr Abbott was questioned about the incident during an interview after riding in a bicycle cancer charity event in South Australia this morning.
Describing the comment as ‘‘banter’’ he said he accepted it was probably not something he should have said.
“I was asked a light-hearted question, I gave a light-hearted response. It’s probably not the subject that people should be bantering about, even on morning radio but look, I think that’s all that needs to be said about it and let’s move on to other subjects.’’

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/abbott-cruise-ship-joke-lacks-judgment-2012012…