Vegemite sandwich thrown at Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard had a Vegemite sandwich thrown at her during a rowdy visit to a school but dismissed the incident – labelled "sandwichgate" – as "a bit of high jinks".
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had a Vegemite sandwich thrown at her during a rowdy visit to a school Photo: AFP/Getty Images
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney 9:29AM BST 08 May 2013
The sandwich was thrown as the Australian Prime Minister was greeted with cheers and occasional cries of "loser" during a chaotic morning visit to a school near Brisbane.
Though most of the hysterical students yelled support for the prime minister and tried to take "selfie" photographs with her or request autographs, one unidentified student threw half a Vegemite sandwich at her. It missed and landed on the ground. "It was complete chaos," said a bystander.
Ms Gillard later joked about the incident and suggested the media had overreacted.
"Far be it for me to say that the media errs on the side of the dramatic," she said. "But I think out of hundreds and hundreds screaming overexcited kids, one kid thought they might be just a little bit naughty and had a little squealing sense of delight as they did it. So there was half a sandwich, which was really on the ground, it wasn't anywhere else. A bit of high jinks."
The incident came just days after Ms Gillard appeared on a televised question-and-answer show with school students and indicated she would be open to lowering Australia's voting age from 18 to 16.
But Ms Gillard has been unable to lift her dismally low approval ratings despite announcing recent popular boosts to education and disabilities funding. She appeared at the school to sign an agreement with the Queensland government on a national disability insurance scheme.
Michelle Campbell, the president of the parents association at Marsden high school, told News Limited the incident was "disappointing".
"Kids will be kids though," she said.
