‘Hurtful to Indigenous Victorians’: John Pesutto rebukes Bev McArthur over colonisation comments

Victorian Liberal MP Bev McArthur’s comments have been described as ‘hurtful’ by her party’s leader, John Pesutto. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

The Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, says he will speak to Liberal MP Bev McArthur about how to respectfully debate issues after she made “hurtful” comments suggesting Indigenous people should be grateful for the “wonderful things” enabled by colonisation.

Pesutto said he did not know what drove McArthur to write the statement – which was not distributed by the Coalition’s media team – but that she would be spoken to.