
Holgate strikes back
Scott Morrison humiliated the wrong womanFriday, March 19, 2021
What women want
A week in which women raised their voices, and the government covered its ears
A protest sign at Monday’s March 4 Justice in Perth. Image via Twitter
Here we are at the end of another week of women outlining what they want, and the male-dominated Morrison government failing to listen, offering platitudes and tone-deaf comments instead of the concrete action women are asking for. In the past 24 hours, several women have tried to make things even clearer, with new suggestions and calls. Prominent businesswomen Thérèse Rein and Lucy Turnbull last night used a joint public appearance to call for an independent complaints-handling facility, so that women in parliament can come forward without fear, and backed calls from Liberal MP Russell Broadbent – one of the only Coalition men who appears to be listening – for “gender impact statements” on all cabinet submissions, policies and legislation. (Broadbent has also urged the prime minister to convene a national summit of women’s organisations, to make recommendations to parliament on the pathway forward.) Female MPs want the parliamentary workplace cleaned up, with a new push for a cross-party group coming from Liberals, Labor, Greens and independents alike, and they would like, if possible, not to receive death threats, please. The prime minister is seemingly unable to keep up with the many brilliant ideas being put in front of him. So what else are women asking for?
There were many demands made on signs and in speeches at the marches that took place across the country on Monday, but the organisers were also careful to list some clear and easy-to-follow instructions for the government. March 4 Justice laid out four immediate demands in its 93,000-signature petition, which was given to female MPs to present in parliament this week: independent investigations into cases of gendered violence; the full implementation of the 55 recommendations in Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins’s “[email protected]” report; an increase in public funding for gendered-violence prevention; and a gender equality act. As organiser Janine Hendry pointed out to Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack in their tense corridor exchange, Jenkins’s report has been sitting on the attorney-general’s desk for 14 months without implementation. “We don’t want any more reports,” she said. “The women of Australia want some action.”
Women, it became pretty clear this week, don’t want an app with which to record sexual consent, as suggested by NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller yesterday, but they do want universal, compulsory consent education, according to Australian of the Year Grace Tame, psychologist-turned-Liberal-MP Fiona Martin and others. They also want reform to evidence rules in sexual assault cases, a trial run for a specialist sexual violence court and more funding to help women fleeing domestic violence – but they don’t want it to come from their own retirement savings. Queensland Women’s Legal Service chief executive Angela Lynch also wants a national summit, this one to end violence against women and children, while Antoinette Braybrook, chairperson of the National Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services Forum, wants more funding to support First Nations women.
Women still want answers regarding the two major allegations of sexual assault that have rocked parliament these past seven weeks. The Opposition did not let up in demanding those answers this week, with Labor frontbencher Catherine King asking the prime minister over and over whether he had bothered to look into the conduct of his staff, following former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins’ allegation that his office had backgrounded against her loved ones. Many still want to know who in the PMO knew what and when about her alleged rape, though it’s likely Four Corners will provide those answers before the PM does, with Monday’s special set to explore exactly that subject. Women would like an inquiry into allegations against Attorney-General Christian Porter, though they’re unlikely to get that now that defamation proceedings are underway, but at the very least, they would like the prime minister to consider the possibility that Porter might have done what he has been accused of – and denied – and act accordingly.
Despite all this, Morrison still seems to be struggling to understand what it is women want here (perhaps he could ask Jen?), though in his defence, it’s been a long and gruelling week. This has been an incomplete list of what women want, but one might hope someone in the PM’s office is compiling these suggestions as they come along. Women want to be listened to, and they want an acknowledgement that someone is listening – one that doesn’t come with a reminder that they’re lucky they weren’t shot at. But they want more than to be told they’ve been heard: women want answers, funding and concrete action. As a number of Monday’s signs read, “Be grateful women want justice, not revenge.”
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