Victorian MP Georgie Purcell slams 9News after Photoshop fail alters body shape, clothing

Channel Nine has apologised after a female MP blasted an apparent Photoshop job that enlarged her breasts and made her clothing more revealing.

Victorian Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell shared the image in a post on X, formerly, Twitter, on Monday — alongside what she says was the original photograph.

“I endured a lot yesterday,” she said in the post.

“But having my body and outfit photoshopped by a media outlet was not on my bingo card.

“Note the enlarged boobs and outfit to be made more revealing.

“Can’t imagine this happening to a male MP.

“What gives?”

The post, which shows the two photographs side-by-side, highlights Ms Purcell’s chest area while also changing the top she wore in the original image to a midriff, exposing some of her “stomach”.

Ms Purcell takes another swipe in the comments, revealing that in real life she has her “whole stomach tattooed”.

In a statement to news.com.au, 9News Melbourne director Hugh Nailon said he would like to “sincerely apologise” for what he called a “graphic error”.

“Our graphics department sourced an online image of Georgie to use in our story on duck hunting,” he said.

“As is common practice, the image was resized to fit our specs. During that process, the automation by Photoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original.

“This did not meet the high editorial standards we have and for that, we apologise to Ms Purcell unreservedly.”

The duck hunting issue has been a hot topic in Victoria recently, with the Victorian Government determining after a cabinet meeting yesterday that the practice would continue in a “safe and sustainable” way.

Ms Purcell, who was a lawyer before becoming an MP, has come under fire before for opening up about her “colourful” past.

The animal rights campaigner worked as a stripper and topless waitress while studying law — a “secret” that only came out after photographs of her were posted online without her consent.

In March 2023, she hit out at trolls who focused personal attacks on her, telling Sky News she was happy to embrace disagreements over policy but would not accept name-calling or violent slurs.

“I think that being a politician is part of it, let’s be honest people don’t love us,” she said at the time.

“I also think for me, as a young woman who has probably a more colourful past than other female MPs. Mine is significantly worse and people do love to draw on that.”

Her comments coincided with a push by the MP to fight gendered online abuse.

In August, Ms Purcell took to social media to post a video of her pole-dancing in response to online vitriol from pro-duck-hunting trolls, highlighting some of the sickening comments she had received over the issue.