Not content with the total clusterfuck that was Employment Minister Michaelia Cash hinting at some sort of infidelity by Bill Shorten, the government is now doubling down on the thinly veiled innuendo.

In case you missed it yesterday, Cash was under pressure in Senate Estimates when she lost her cool and threatened to expose rumours about Bill Shorten by dragging Shorten’s female staff into the public spotlight. It was a bizarre performance that was condemned on all sides of politics.

Cash gave a half-hearted apology, Tony Abbott called it a brain snap, and Education Minister Simon Birmingham acknowledged she’d gone too far. Labor criticised Cash for putting every woman in Shorten’s office — and pretty much every female staffer in Parliament — under a cloud of rumour and innuendo. Even Andrew Bolt criticised her.

Then Things Got Worse

So that’s the end of it, right? A minister had a brain snap, apologised (sort of), and everyone can go about their business. Well hold up, because here comes Peter Dutton!

Speaking on 2GB this morning, Dutton was asked about Cash’s slur, and instead of avoiding the topic or gently chiding his colleague, he dove right in and covered himself in muck. Here’s what he said, courtesy of The Guardian:

“I think there’s a frustration on the Coalition side at the moment … we’ve sat there taking a morals lecture from Bill Shorten in relation to Barnaby Joyce over the last few weeks. People know that there’s a history of problems in Bill Shorten’s personal life, in Tony Burke’s personal life, and to be lectured by the Labor party sticks in the craw.

“People know that there’s a history of problems in Bill Shorten’s personal life… and to be lectured by the Labor party sticks in the craw.”

“I think Michaelia Cash did the right thing by withdrawing her comments — she’s done that — but there’s a general frustration within the parliament that you’ve got people like Shorten, Burke, and a couple on the other side being virtuous and I’m not sure they’ve got great grounds to be virtuous.”

So first thing’s first: Bill Shorten didn’t lecture Barnaby Joyce about moral failings. Labor targeted Joyce’s use of public money and the Nationals’ habit of finding jobs for Joyce’s new partner, Vikki Campion, but stayed right away from making any moral judgements.

The only person who did lecture Barnaby Joyce was Malcolm Turnbull, and that went pretty badly for everyone involved.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Dutton expanded on his comments.

“I think we have been lectured to and moralised on by people who really should check their own situation first,” he said.

That’s a thinly veiled suggestion that the government is willing to talk publicly about rumours of sexual impropriety on the part of Labor MPs, especially Bill Shorten. In an environment like Canberra, where rumours circulate about pretty much everyone, that’s a whole lot of mudslinging to be done.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has also defended Cash, saying she was being “bullied and provoked” by Labor Senators when she made the comments. The PM said Cash withdrew her comments “unreservedly”, which is just not true.

Another minister, Michael Sukkar, said he doesn’t think Cash needs to apologise.

So What’s Labor Doing?

Labor is demanding Cash issue a proper apology. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, deputy leader Tanya Plibersek called Cash’s comments “ghastly” and “sexist”.

Bill Shorten also spoke about the comments for the first time today, saying he expects Cash to apologise to his staff in person.

“Of course I’m angry. I’m angry on behalf of the smart, dedicated, hard-working professionals in my office who have been smeared by Michaelia Cash. I’m honestly shocked she hasn’t said sorry. I’ve been waiting for her to ring up my office and organise it,” he said.

“I’m angry on behalf of the smart, dedicated, hard-working professionals in my office who have been smeared by Michaelia Cash.”

“It’s this sort of nonsense that turns people off politics. We should be focusing on the things that matter to Australians, not hurling insults and making up stories about people who can’t defend themselves.”

But there’s no sign of Cash, or the government, backing down, which could mean we’re about to see a lot of mud thrown around Parliament, as each side tries to one-up the other by hinting at impropriety.

Oh, and today Cash tried to avoid cameras by hiding behind a whiteboard. So things are going well.

Farcical scenes at Parliament House, as security guards wheel out a whiteboard to stop media filming Michaelia Cash arriving at a #estimates committee hearing pic.twitter.com/YZXC7VxE6S

— ABC Politics (@politicsabc) March 1, 2018