Labor Senator Penny Wong says she hopes Zoo Weekly's apology to Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young for their tacky underwear photoshop piece will teach the media a lesson.
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Senator Hanson-Young sued Bauer Media for the 2012 article and late last week secured the apology as part of a settlement. The Bauer magazine will apologise for Photoshopping Senator Hanson-Young's face onto a lingerie model's body to accompany an article headlined "Zoo's Asylum Seeker Bikini Plan".
"We accept that the article was in poor taste. Senator Hanson-Young has made a significant contribution to asylum seeker policy in this country. We sincerely apologise for any hurt we caused," Bauer Media will say.
The magazine, which initially fought Senator Hanson-Young's litigation, said it would "house the next boatload of asylum seekers in the Zoo office" if she agreed to a "tasteful" bikini or lingerie shoot. Senator Hanson-Young is one of Parliament's strongest critics of offshore detention for asylum seekers who travel to Australia by boat.
"Whether it is a smutty men's magazine or in pages of the daily newspapers, there is no place for the degradation of women and the right of women to have views or opinions," she said.
Labor Senator Penny Wong hopes the incident will also send a message to the entire media.
"I look forward to a day when some of the media realise it's not appropriate to portray women this way," Senator Wong told Fairfax Media.
"How would they feel if images of their partner or daughter were used this way?"
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie said it was clear the article had upset the Greens Senator but said the real butt of the joke were Zoo Weekly's half a million readers.
"Obviously it's upset Sarah and that's Sarah's call," she said.
"We're talking about Zoo magazine, I'd be very surprised if the boys even read the caption," she said.
"Do you think the boys would read the caption if my head was photo-shopped onto Elle McPherson's body?" she added.
Fairfax Media also approached Senator Michaelia Cash, the Government's Assistant Minister for Women, for comment.
