Canberra: An Australian senator who told breakfast radio she would only date men who were rich and "well-hung" apologised Tuesday, saying she had tried to hide her embarrassment with a joke.
Jacqui Lambie, who took her seat in the national parliament`s upper house earlier this month, told Tasmania`s Heart 107.3 that she had not been in a relationship for more than a decade.
When the breakfast hosts suggested they help her find love, she replied: "Now they must have heaps of cash and they`ve got to have a package between their legs, let`s be honest.
"And I don`t need them to speak, they don`t even need to speak."
The 43-year-old`s comments prompted a young male listener to ring in to say he was confident he met her criteria, in part because he had inherited some money and had experience with older women.
"I`m just a bit concerned because you`re so young, I`m not sure you`d be able to handle Jacqui Lambie," the outspoken politician, who served a decade in Australia`s armed forces, said.
The senator then asked: "Are you well-hung?"
"Like a donkey," he replied, as the hosts tried to get the pair together on a date before the man rang off.
"I have that effect on men," joked mother-of-two Lambie, a member of the Palmer United Party founded by mining magnate Clive Palmer.
Lambie later apologised for her comments which followed a string of unrelated questions by the breakfast hosts, including how she took care of hairy legs, bikini line and underarms.
"When Kim and Dave on Hobart`s Heart FM 107.3 this morning asked me about my love life in a light hearted segment -- I tried to cover up my embarrassment by making a joke," Lambie said.
"A lot of people laughed, some people may have got offended."
Lambie is not the first politician caught out on radio, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott generating a storm of protest in May when he winked at a presenter during a testy radio chat with a pensioner who worked on a sex phone line.