Category: Sexual Harassment
The March 4 Justice organisers hit back at suggestion PM would be unsafe
The organisers of Monday’s women’s rally at parliament have hit back at a Liberal MP’s claim that Prime Minister Scott Morrison couldn’t attend the march because of security issues.
Senior lecturer in politics at the Australian National University Maria Maley said Mr Falinski’s comments showed the government was trying to spin a new narrative on why he didn’t attend the protests.
“The government is desperately trying to change the narrative about what happened with the PM not attending or meeting the marchers,” Dr Maley said.
“What that implies though, is that the women who were gathering to raise these issues were posing a threat to him.
“It puts him in the position of victim.”
In the past week many commentators, including the ABC’s Laura Tingle, have juxtaposed Mr Morrison’s response to that of former PM John Howard, who fronted a crowd of angry pro-gun demonstrators in 1996 following the Port Arthur Massacre.
Source: The March 4 Justice organisers hit back at suggestion PM would be unsafe
Politics: Abuse of female MPs outed as spotlight grows
Women on both sides of politics have shared the vile abuse and threats they routinely cop for doing their job, with the Parliament hearing emotional pleas for things to change.
Source: Politics: Abuse of female MPs outed as spotlight grows
Judges, MPs to held accountable for sexual harassment – Lawyers Weekly
If passed, the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Prohibiting All Sexual Harassment) Bill 2021 would essentially fill a gap in the law to ensure that judges and MPs would be both held liable for sexual harassment and protected from it. According to independent MP Zali Steggall, it would also restore confidence in these institutions.
In delivering this legislation to Parliament, Ms Steggall said the government did not take the opportunity to present it themselves, adding that if they failed to adopt this amendment, they “are endorsing sexual harassment in our workplace” and are supportive of the message that MPs are held above others when it comes to the law.
“The allegations we have heard this year from [Brittany] Higgins and others of the harassment and even assault here in Parliament House reinforces the need for a change to the legislation,” she said. “Creating legislation to make sure that MPs and judges are held to the same standard as others in the workplace is important.”
Source: Judges, MPs to held accountable for sexual harassment – Lawyers Weekly
Elaine Stead awarded $280,000 in AFR defamation case
Venture capitalist Elaine Stead sued the AFR and Joe Aston over a series of published columns where she was described as a “feminist cretin”.
Source: Elaine Stead awarded $280,000 in AFR defamation case
Cyber bullies forced to apologise to victims under ‘world-first’ safety laws
Cyber bullies could face $110,000 fines, and adults bullying children online could be obliged to apologise to their victims, under an online safety act.
Source: Cyber bullies forced to apologise to victims under ‘world-first’ safety laws
What the Craig McLachlan verdict says about respectful workplaces | ArtsHub Australia
Magistrate Wallington concluded that the acts did take place, but, applying the laws of 2014, they could not be proven to ‘a criminal standard’ and there was not enough evidence to prove McLachlan ‘understood he did not have consent’.
Source: What the Craig McLachlan verdict says about respectful workplaces | ArtsHub Australia
Christian Porter and Alan Tudge: Their family values.
Whilst Attorney-General Christian Porter and Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge have both spent their careers publicly espousing family values, their alleged behaviour in the corridors of Canberra suggest otherwise.
As former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told journalist Louise Milligan, “Some of the most trenchant opponents of same-sex marriage, all in the name of traditional marriage, were at the same time enthusiastic practitioners of traditional adultery.”
Their actions are profoundly hypocritical.
Barrister Kathleen Foley knew Porter from the age of 16, when he coached her in debating at the University of Western Australia, She later worked as a WA state solicitor when Mr Porter was a WA Crown prosecutor.
“For all of that time I’ve known him to be someone who was, in my opinion, based on what I saw, deeply sexist and actually misogynist in his treatment of women, in the way he spoke about women,” Foley said on Four Corners.
“I remember him commenting that he would never date a woman who weighed over 50 kilograms,” she said.
“That stood out to me. I also remember a relationship of his that ended and he commented that the woman involved was thin enough, but she didn’t have big enough tits, and the next woman that he was going to date needed to be as thin, but have bigger tits.”
Source: Christian Porter and Alan Tudge: Their family values.
Whitlam’s women’s adviser Elizabeth Reid details unwelcome advance from governor-general Sir John Kerr – ABC News
A pioneering feminist trying to change things from the inside, Elizabeth Reid was subjected to the very behaviour she was fighting against — including an unwanted sexual advance from the governor-general.
No shortage of sexist moments in 2020, but here’s who takes the cake
Of course, there were the usual suspects. Those repeat offenders (cough *Mark Latham, Malcolm Roberts) who seem to relish being as noxious as possible at any given opportunity.
But there were also some new faces including top gong (Gold Ernie) going to Jayson Westbury, CEO of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents who sickeningly suggested that Tracey Grimshaw deserved a “firm uppercut or a slap across the face” for her reporting of a travel industry refund scandal.
The Political Silver Ernie went to the previously mentioned, Senator Malcolm Roberts for his commentary on the family law system (and apparent defence of perpetrators of domestic violence) when he said:“But when you’re a father, and you can’t get access to your kids, and you can’t get access to the legal system properly, what else is there to do other than check out or hurt the other person?”
There was a dead heat for the Celebrity/Clerical Silver Ernie going to the Council of the Order of Australia for awarding Bettina Arndt an AM for her “significant service to the community as a social commentator, and to gender equity through advocacy for men”.
Ironically, Bettina Arndt was awarded her own Ernie (AKA ‘The Elaine for remarks least helpful to the sisterhood) for her commentary on the devastating murder of Hannah Clarke and her children in which she congratulated “the Queensland police for keeping an open mind and awaiting proper evidence, including the possibility that Rowan Baxter might have been ‘driven too far’.”
Unsurprisingly, Pauline Hanson stepped up for joint acquisition of ‘The Elaine’ for her comments as Deputy chair of the Family Court Enquiry, in which she suggested that women were fabricating stories of domestic violence:“A lot of the women out there abuse the system by instigating false DVOs against their former partners or their husbands. They use that to further their needs… Domestic violence orders have got completely out of hand”, she claimed.
And, in case these recollections aren’t enough to have you tearing your hair out to the point of baldness, let’s not forget the wonderful Shore school boys who also scored a Silver Ernie for their recent ‘Triwizard Shorenament’.The ‘muck-up day’ challenge manual that included instructions for students to have sex with a woman over 80kgs; aged over 40; or who was deemed to be a ‘3/10 or lower’.
Source: No shortage of sexist moments in 2020, but here’s who takes the cake