A Queensland government minister has claimed that Indigenous lawyer and Cape York leader Noel Pearson called her a "white cunt".
Pearson called the Queensland education minister Kate Jones a "fucking white cunt" in 2009 when Jones was environment minister, her spokesperson told the ABC.
Pearson denied the claims, telling the ABC that while he "engages in colourful language" he did not directly call the minister the derogatory term.
"I accept that I'm a very passionate and relentless advocate on behalf of reform. And I am surely not the only one who engages in colourful language," Pearson said.
"I completely, completely reject the suggestion that I directed any of those words at minister Kate Jones in 2009."
Pearson has also been accused of a hurling a stream of obscenities and abuse at Jim Watterston, director general of Education Queensland, and his staff.
In a letter obtained by the ABC, Watterson says Pearson called him an "arse coverer", "maggot", and "bucket of shit" in May over the department's handling of the Cape York Academy's Aurukun school after it was closed due to reports of violent attacks from students on the principal.
Barbara Shephard, a nurse in the small town of Coen in Cape York, has also claimed Pearson unleashed an abusive tirade at her.
Shepard said Pearson became angry after she raised concerns at a community meeting over the introduction of the controversial teaching program Direction Instruction at the local school.
"He said I was a white cunt, interfering bitch, to be honest," Shephard told the ABC.
It's not the first time Pearson has been accused of bullying and standover tactics.
In 2014, the Sydney Morning Herald published a number of stories about Pearson's temper, including allegations of Pearson verbally abusing federal minister for Indigenous affairs Nigel Scullion.
In response, Pearson walked into the Sydney Morning Herald's newsroom and threatened to beat a senior editor "to a pulp" and throw him off the balcony.