Kellie
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I cannot believe how good old Eddie let this air on channel 9 last night.
THE Premier of Queensland Peter Beattie has blasted radical feminist Germaine Greer, saying she has put her 'ego' and need for publicity before the grieving Irwin family.
In a stinging attack on Ms Greer, Mr Beattie branded her criticism of Steve Irwin as 'extreme radical rubbish', and urged her to 'back off' and keep her 'stupid' comments on Irwin to herself.
Ms Greer last night told the Nine Network that the Crocodile Hunter, who died on Monday when a stingray barb pierced his chest while he was snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, had embarrassed millions of Australians with his cruelty towards animals.
The comments came as she defended a column she wrote for The Guardian newspaper in Britain in which she said the animal world had taken revenge on "self-deluded animal tormentor Steve Irwin".
Mr Beattie today told Channel Nine it was unbelievable Greer had so publicly put her own ego first while the family of Mr Irwin struggled to cope with their loss.
"Germain Greer is just wrong and I just can't imagine anyone being more insensitive and, frankly, stupid," he said.
"This argument is just extreme radical rubbish from Germain Greer and it couldn't come at a more insensitive time.
"Any suggestion that he (Mr Irwin) mistreated animals is just rubbish... he educated a generation."
Greer herself has been the target of cries of exploitation.
In 2003 she used a shirless photo of a 15-year-old boy as the cover for a controversial book without asking for his permission. The photo had been taken on a film set.
Yesterday Opposition foreign affairs spokesman and Brisbane MP Kevin Rudd said Greer should keep her thoughts about Irwin's death to herself.
"I think Germaine Greer should just stick a sock in it," he said.
"You have got a grieving mother, you have got a couple of grieving young kids and a grieving nation, and what do you get from Germaine Greer? You get a bucketload of politically correct pap – it's just nonsense.
"Steve Irwin was a nature conservationist, an animal conservationist and made a huge contribution to the preservation of wildlife worldwide.
"And what do we get from Germaine Greer? Some gratuitous, politically correct claptrap."
Those on the boat with Irwin say he had not been harassing the stingray when it lashed out at him.
But The Guardian quoted Greer as saying: "As a Melbourne boy, Irwin should have had a healthy respect for stingrays, which are actually commoner and bigger in southern waters than they are near Port Douglas."
She described Irwin's behaviour as "bizarre", noting the famed incident when he held his baby son while feeding a crocodile at Australia Zoo.
"The whole spectacle was revolting," Greer said. "The crocodile would rather have been anywhere else and the chicken had a grim life too, but that's entertainment at Australia Zoo.
"The animal world has finally taken its revenge on Irwin, but probably not before a whole generation of kids in shorts seven sizes too small has learned to shout in the ears of animals with hearing 10 times more acute than theirs, determined to become millionaire animal-loving zoo owners in their turn."
THE Premier of Queensland Peter Beattie has blasted radical feminist Germaine Greer, saying she has put her 'ego' and need for publicity before the grieving Irwin family.
In a stinging attack on Ms Greer, Mr Beattie branded her criticism of Steve Irwin as 'extreme radical rubbish', and urged her to 'back off' and keep her 'stupid' comments on Irwin to herself.
Ms Greer last night told the Nine Network that the Crocodile Hunter, who died on Monday when a stingray barb pierced his chest while he was snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, had embarrassed millions of Australians with his cruelty towards animals.
The comments came as she defended a column she wrote for The Guardian newspaper in Britain in which she said the animal world had taken revenge on "self-deluded animal tormentor Steve Irwin".
Mr Beattie today told Channel Nine it was unbelievable Greer had so publicly put her own ego first while the family of Mr Irwin struggled to cope with their loss.
"Germain Greer is just wrong and I just can't imagine anyone being more insensitive and, frankly, stupid," he said.
"This argument is just extreme radical rubbish from Germain Greer and it couldn't come at a more insensitive time.
"Any suggestion that he (Mr Irwin) mistreated animals is just rubbish... he educated a generation."
Greer herself has been the target of cries of exploitation.
In 2003 she used a shirless photo of a 15-year-old boy as the cover for a controversial book without asking for his permission. The photo had been taken on a film set.
Yesterday Opposition foreign affairs spokesman and Brisbane MP Kevin Rudd said Greer should keep her thoughts about Irwin's death to herself.
"I think Germaine Greer should just stick a sock in it," he said.
"You have got a grieving mother, you have got a couple of grieving young kids and a grieving nation, and what do you get from Germaine Greer? You get a bucketload of politically correct pap – it's just nonsense.
"Steve Irwin was a nature conservationist, an animal conservationist and made a huge contribution to the preservation of wildlife worldwide.
"And what do we get from Germaine Greer? Some gratuitous, politically correct claptrap."
Those on the boat with Irwin say he had not been harassing the stingray when it lashed out at him.
But The Guardian quoted Greer as saying: "As a Melbourne boy, Irwin should have had a healthy respect for stingrays, which are actually commoner and bigger in southern waters than they are near Port Douglas."
She described Irwin's behaviour as "bizarre", noting the famed incident when he held his baby son while feeding a crocodile at Australia Zoo.
"The whole spectacle was revolting," Greer said. "The crocodile would rather have been anywhere else and the chicken had a grim life too, but that's entertainment at Australia Zoo.
"The animal world has finally taken its revenge on Irwin, but probably not before a whole generation of kids in shorts seven sizes too small has learned to shout in the ears of animals with hearing 10 times more acute than theirs, determined to become millionaire animal-loving zoo owners in their turn."
