A Greens Senator was caught wishing for a drink after a particularly brutal parliamentary committee session, unaware her microphone was still on.
Sarah Hanson-Young had already caused a stir earlier in the evening when she twice called the boss of the government arts funding agency, Creative Australia, ‘gutless’.
As the session drew to a close and those in attendance were packing up and leaving, Ms Hanson-Young sighed and said ‘I need a drink,’ with the comment then broadcast on the official livestream.
Senators in the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee had been in session until well after 10pm on Tuesday, which undoubtedly contributed to Ms Hanson-Young’s exasperation.
She had been questioning Creative Australia over a controversial decision regarding the prestigious Venice Biennale in 2026.
Artist Khaled Sabsabi was chosen by the organisation to represent Australia with curator Michael Dagostino but, after Sabsabi’s previous work that featured a Hezbollah leader was questioned by the Coalition, he was stripped of the opportunity.
In the final five minutes of Tuesday’s session, Ms Hanson-Young repeatedly asked chief executive Adrien Collette whether he would make a public apology.
‘Will you apologise to Khaled and to Michael for the pain, for the suffering and for the damage – that has been done through this whole saga – to their careers?’ she said.
The senate committee ran until nearly 10.30pm with the Greens senator sighing as she said into the mic that she ‘needed a drink’ assuming it has been turned off
Senator Hanson-Young had to rescind her comments calling Creative Australia’s CEO ‘gutless’ after he refused to apologise for dumping an artist over his controversial work
Mr Collette said he wanted to have a ‘very close conversations’ with artist Sabsabi and Mr Dagostino.
‘I’m not going to comment on those publicly.’
A minute later, the senator asked again, to which Collette responded that he would speak to the artist and curator first.
‘That is absolutely gutless, I just say, gutless,’ the senator said.
After being asked to withdraw the comment, the Senator adjusted her wording.
‘I think that is very weak, I think that is extremely weak.’
Sabsabi’s previous work was heavily criticised in federal parliament Question Time earlier in February with Liberal Senator Claire Chandler taking aim because it depicted the September 11 attacks and dead Hezbollah terrorist leader Nasrallah.
He was then removed as Australia’s representative for the Venice festival after the debate.
Senator Hanson-Young’s protest dress at the Parliamentary Midwinter Ball in 2022
Senator Hanson-Young has been been one of the Greens’ more outspoken members.
She interrupted a press conference in 2024 to demand Nationals leader David Littleproud ‘say something about the children being slaughtered’ amid rising tensions around the Gaza-Israel conflict.
For the 2022 Midwinter Ball, she wore eye-catching white gown with ‘End Gas and Coal’ scrawled on the back that was part of a protest by herself and party leader Adam Bandt.
The MP said it represented the urgent need to take a stand against fossil fuels and protect the planet.
