Australian PM under fire after staffer role in fracas

Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Saturday distanced herself from a staff member after it emerged he triggered a fracas that led to the Australian leader being hustled to safety by security agents. Press secretary Tony Hodges resigned Friday evening after he admitted passing on information that opposition leader Tony Abbott was at the same Canberra restaurant as the prime minister. Protesters surrounded the venue on Thursday, pounding the windows chanting "shame" and "racist" after Abbott suggested a so-called Aboriginal tent embassy may have reached its sell-by date, comments he later denied making. As tempers flared, Gillard and Abbott were bundled to waiting cars by security service agents with the prime minister dramatically stumbling and losing a shoe in ugly scenes that were beamed around the world. Gillard's office announced the resignation in a statement that said Hodges made "an error of judgement". "A member of the prime minister's media unit did call another individual and disclosed the presence of the opposition leader at the Lobby restaurant," the statement said. "This information was subsequently passed onto a member of the Aboriginal tent embassy." Abbott Saturday demanded Gillard publicly explain the events that led to furious protesters breaching security around the political leaders, and she addressed the issue at a press conference later in the day. She said Hodges relayed Abbott's comments about the tent embassy to the head of Unions ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Kim Sattler, who then informed the protesters. He suggested to Sattler that some Aboriginal spokespeople should go to the restaurant to respond to Abbott's remarks. About 50 turned up. "Mr Hodges in taking these actions acted alone and his actions were not authorised. Clearly they are viewed by me as unacceptable," said Gillard. She added, however, that Hodges was "a decent person". "He has recognised that he has made an error of judgement and he has paid a very big price for that error of judgement," she said. Earlier, Abbott had said Gillard "owes the nation a full explanation". "I'm sure there are decent people in the prime minister's office, but it looks like a pretty grubby business I've got to say, it really does," he said. The protesters had been attending so-called "Invasion Day" commemorations at the nearby Aboriginal tent embassy, a permanent camp of indigenous activists celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. On Friday, around 200 of them marched on Parliament House before burning an Australian flag on the building's forecourt. Aborigines, whose cultures stretch back tens of thousands of years, are believed to have numbered around one million at the time of British settlement, but there are now just 470,000 out of a total population of 22 million. They have become Australia's most disadvantaged minority, with shorter life expectancy and much higher rates of imprisonment and disease than their non-Aboriginal counterparts.