Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has refused to back down from her call for the prime minister to apologise for wearing a Joy Division band T-shirt, despite Coalition MPs distancing themselves from comments that have stolen attention from their policy messages.

Ley launched the attack in a speech to parliament on Tuesday, criticising Anthony Albanese’s decision to wear merchandise from an acclaimed 1970s band that took its name from a term for the sexual slavery wing of a concentration camp as inappropriate in a context of rising antisemitism.

After Nationals senators Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan said they did not care about what T-shirt the Albanese wore and others refused to back Ley’s criticism, the opposition leader declared she was right to raise the issue on Wednesday.

“I don’t t

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