Michael McCormack’s homophobic slurs re-emerge amid postal plebiscite controversy

While editor of The Daily Advertiser in the 1990s, Mr McCormack published and later apologised for a homophobic rant in his weekly column.

On May 1, 1993, Mr McCormack published a column 'from the editor's desk' demonising homosexuality, specifically the role played by homosexuals in spreading AIDS.

“A week never goes by anymore that homosexuals and their sordid behaviour don’t become further entrenched in society,” he opened his column with.

“Unfortunately gays are here and, if the disease their unnatural acts helped spread doesn’t wipe out humanity, they’re here to stay.”

Now the member for Riverina, Mr McCormack has since picked up the small business portfolio and oversees the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 

The ABS is responsible for the postal vote.

On Nine’s Today Show on Friday morning, Lisa Wilkinson asked defence minister Christopher Pyne if he thought Mr McCormack was suited to the task, pulling no punches.

“Is he (Mr McCormack) homophobic?” she asked.

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him,” Mr Pyne responded.

He subsequently apologised for the column on behalf of the newspaper.

The skeleton in the closet was a hot topic during Mr McCormack’s successful 2010 tilt at the Riverina seat.

In 2010, he reiterated that apology both in an interview with the ABC and when contacted by the Advertiser.

"I apologised for it - I have moved on from it and as far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it,” he said.

Not so, it appears.

Mr McCormack is again coming under fire on social media as the postal plebiscite controversy continues, with many voicing their concerns.

And this …

Dear readers,

A week never goes by anymore that homosexuals and their sordid behaviour don’t become further entrenched in society.

Unfortunately gays are here and, if the disease their unnatural acts helped spread doesn’t wipe out humanity, they’re here to stay.

On Monday hundreds of thousands of homosexuals marched through Washington in a demonstration intended to show their demands for equal rights and an end to discrimination should no longer be ignored or denied.

How can these people call for rights when they’re responsible for the greatest medical dilemma known to man – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome?

AIDS shows no discrimination.

It claims thousands upon thousands of innocent people’s lives every year.

On the very night of the homosexuals’ march that pompous critic Stuart Littlemore on Media Watch on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation had the gall to criticise various newspaper editors across Australia for “gay bashing”.

He ridiculed them for showing some moral backbone and condemning homosexuality.

It’s just as well some newspapers are speaking up and acting as watchdogs on moral issues. If it was left up to the likes of Littlemore, heaven knows some of the all-embracing attitudes society would be told it was OK to accept.

Daily Advertiser