text: Queensland 
   
   A Marsden State High School student suspended for throwing a vegemite sandwich at the Prime Minister has confronted her on radio to protest his innocence. 
   
   Kyle Thomson phoned in to B105 radio station as Prime Minister Julia Gillard was trying to spruik the bipartisan agreement reached to sign DisabilityCare in Queensland. 
   
   ‘‘I’d like to say I’m sorry that it’s come to this, all over the news and everything, but I’m innocent and I didn’t throw it,’’ he said. 
   
   Anna Thomson and her son Kyle Thomson who says he was wrongfully suspended for throwing sandwich at Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Photo: Nine News 
   
   Ms Gillard laughed it off, conceding she ‘‘sort of’’ sympathised but would not be using any parliamentary powers to appeal his three-week suspension. 
   
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   ‘‘I think Kyle really has to have a chat with the school principal because it’s not my job to be saying anything different to a very good school principal,’’ she said. 
   
   ‘‘His name is Alan Jones if you can believe it, but he has led that school so it’s now an Australia wide leader in getting kids through to vocational education and training.’’ 
   
   One of the radio hosts joked the bigger issue was that Kyle was a ‘‘patsy’’ set up by the Australian government and there was a second sandwich thrower in the book depository. 
   
   ‘‘I think we might all be getting a little bit carried away,’’ Ms Gillard said. 
   
   On a day when a bipartisan agreement was reached between Queensland and the Commonwealth to sign up to DisabilityCare, a sandwich dominated headlines after it was thrown while Ms Gillard was visiting the Logan school. 
   
   Kyle was suspended just hours after Wednesday’s incident, but said the school needs to "get its facts right". 
   
   ‘‘Everyone started crowding her and that and someone threw a sandwich and the teacher witnessed I did it,’’ he told Channel Nine. 
   
   ‘‘... I hit the sandwich out of the kid’s hand because he threw it and there was another one so I hit it out of his hand.’’ 
   
   Kyle’s mother Anna Thomson backs the teenager’s version of events, saying he hit the sandwich out of another student’s hand to stop them throwing another one. 
   
   ‘‘I think it’s been thrown out of proportion a lot,’’ she said. 
   
   ‘‘I mean I’m sure she’s had more than a sandwich thrown at her throughout her life.’’ 
   
   Ms Thomson called on the school to investigate it further. 
   
   ‘‘Kyle is no angel, don’t get me wrong, but I think there is a lot more to the circumstances,’’ she said. 
   
   ‘‘I honestly wonder if he would have been suspended on the first day without all the investigations being done if it wasn’t the Prime Minister.’’ 
   
   
   
   ||||| A high school kid in Australia was suspended for two weeks for an attempted assault on Prime Minister Julia Gillard with a Vegemite sandwich. But the kid says he's just a patsy set up to take the fall the second sandwich thrower. 
   
   The whole thing started Wednesday when Gillard paid a visit to a Brisbane high school for a routine photo op. But the day became anything but routine as she made her way through the excited crowd of pupils, and her security detail let down its guard just enough to allow the half-eaten lunch to be hurled in her direction. 
   
   Here's the video that shocked a nation: 
   
   School offiicals immediately named 16-year-old Kyle Thomson as the lone hurler and suspended him for 15 days. But in a shocking turn of events, Thomson denies that he did anything wrong, and in fact claims that he threw himself in front of the real sandwich thrower in order to protect the PM from near-certain breading. 
   
   Listen to Kyle explain to an incredulous reporter how he knocked one sandwich out of the real assailant's hand and then reveals another shocking twist ... there was a second sandwich. 
   
   Naturally, the conflicting stories got conspiracy theorists roiling online, with Aussies posting their own thoughts, hypotheses, and jokes to the riveting #sandwichgate hashtag. 
   
   I refuse to believe @jonathanvswan's interview on #Sandwichgate until we get video from the grassy knoll: bit.ly/13CycTs — David Ramli (@Davidramli) May 9, 2013 
   
   so turns out he was prevented a double sandwich throw - Victoria Cross in order?#sandwichgate #hero #auspol media.smh.com.au/national/selec… — Daniel (@dankarney) May 9, 2013 
   
   Julia finally gets her legacy We can rest easy Australia, it's over#gillard #sandwichgate #auspol twitter.com/brnfst/status/… — Wot do ya call this? (@brnfst) May 9, 2013 
   
   Adding to the intriguing puzzle, some are now claiming the sandwich was not even Vegemite! (Perhaps suggesting a foreign agent?) 
   
   It was a chicken sandwich, not vegemite! 15 y/o Kyle will be back at school tomorrow - video showed he didn't throw it at PM #sandwichgate — Alissa Thibault (@AlissaThibault) May 9, 2013 
   
   Anti-Gillard sandwich was chicken, not Vegemite; now no longer classified as a deadly biological weapon #Sandwichgate — Baz McAlister (@bazmcalister) May 9, 2013 
   
   It's not the first time Gillard or other Australian PMs have been targeted either. 
   
   Nine News uncovers a third occasion when a projectile was thrown at the PM see it tonight @9newsbrisbane #sandwichgate — Sophie Walsh (@sophie_walsh9) May 9, 2013 
   
   Obviously, there are worse things that can be thrown at you, like shoes. As Gillard's predecessor, John Howard, once found out. And apparently it was an egg toss at then-PM Billy Hughes back in 1917 that led to the formation of Australia's Federal Police force. Gillard, however, took the sandwich assault in stride showing a brave face as she laughed off the incident. Though there are obviously still many unanswered questions that only a special parliamentary commission can uncover. (Like "Is this is all a massive inside joke that Australians are pulling on the rest of us?) 
   
   In the end, we think the assessment by Kyle Thomson, of the leader he bravely swore to defend, kind of sums up the whole matter: 
   
   "She doesn't have a big nose like everyone's saying. She's small and ... yeah, famous." 
   
   Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dbennett at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire. 
   
   Dashiell Bennett
target: – A story getting big play across Australian media today: On a visit to a high school yesterday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard had a Vegemite sandwich thrown at her by one of the students. The alleged thrower was suspended from school for three weeks, the Brisbane Times reports, but he claims he was actually trying to protect Gillard. "I’m innocent and I didn’t throw it," Kyle Thomson tells B105. "I hit the sandwich out of the kid’s hand because he threw it and there was another one so I hit it out of his hand." Amusingly, his mother chimes in, "Kyle is no angel, don’t get me wrong, but I think there is a lot more to the circumstances." She adds of Gillard, "I mean, I’m sure she’s had more than a sandwich thrown at her throughout her life." Sadly, Gillard said she would not appeal to the school principal to have Thomson's suspension overturned. Social media, not surprisingly, loves "Sandwichgate," the Atlantic Wire reports, and there have been a few "There was a second sandwich!" jokes. Click for more viral moments in Julia Gillard.