In photos: Torquay rally at the beach
By Carolyn Webb
In Torquay on the Victorian surf coast, 90 people formed the word ‘Justice’ on the beach at 8am, in solidarity with gatherings around the country.
Laura Connor, one of the organisers, said in total about 200 people came to the Torquay event, from as far as Ocean Grove and Anglesea.
In Torquay rather than a march women gathered on the beach spelling out the word ‘JUSTICE’ on the sand on Monday.Credit:Justin McManus
Asked why she took part, Ms Connor said: “I was so disappointed at the Prime Minister’s response to the allegations that were made against the Attorney General, that I just felt compelled to organise something to demonstrate how disappointed that I think collectively a lot of women across Australia, as we’re seeing, felt.
“I just felt that he [Prime Minister Scott Morrison] failed to see that this was about every woman and girl in Australia.
“I just feel that we need to be taken seriously. And our safety and our right to a safe workplace is vital, for us to feel valued and respected.”
She said the entire nationwide March 4 Justice was “fantastic. I think that disappointment and anger has evoked a collective voice that will not be silenced.”
Protesters at Torquay beach on Monday morning.Credit:Justin McManus
Seventies-era women’s liberation leader to take stage today
By Jewel Topsfield
A founding member of the Canberra Women’s Liberation Group in 1970, Biff Ward, says she has waited for 50 years for this moment of reckoning for women.
“Since early women’s liberation, beginning in the early 70s we started to identify issues like domestic violence and sexual harassment,” says Ms Ward, an author and activist who is a speaker at today’s Women’s March 4 Justice in Canberra.
Author Biff Ward.Credit:Elesa Kurtz
“Some of us can see this stuff really clearly. This sense that over half the women in Australia have suddenly gone ‘Shit, what is all this? No more’. It’s just ridiculous that women aren’t safe in public places, even in their workplaces. It’s suddenly arrived at some huge turning point. That’s what it looks like to me and I am very excited.“
Ms Ward will hark bank to the 1970s and point out that change takes a long time in her speech today.
“It’s about just keeping on going and keeping on voicing things and it does happen. And I want to talk about rage, and how to live with rage and how to maintain rage without burning up and doing yourself or other women damage.”
Ms Ward believed the Prime Minister had offered to meet with a delegation of women from the march in Canberra because it was “politically expedient”.
“He’s making a little gesture, but I don’t believe it’s genuine, I don’t believe he gets it. I don’t believe it will be a real discussion, it will be win-win publicity.
“She says the nation-wide marches will make people feel united and stop them from despairing.
“And then you keep going from there. More and more women feel able to speak up. It is literally a revolution, we used to be completely unbelieved, told we’d made it up, we’re fantasising, we exaggerated or it didn’t happen, complete gaslighting. And now women are believed, it’s just extraordinary and I like to think you can’t go back from that.”
Sharon Buikstra has never participated in a political march before
By Jewel Topsfield
Sharon Buikstra has never participated in a political march before.“I’m from Wollongong, I work in events, I don’t normally do this sort of thing,” Ms Buikstra says.
“I’m just an everyday single woman in my 50s bringing up two children.”
Protesters Helen Dalley-Fisher and Sharon Buikstra on the eve of the Women’s March 4 Justice at Parliament House in Canberra.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But the 53-year-old drove to Canberra on her own to attend today’s Women’s March 4 Justice, saying she felt former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who alleges she was raped in Parliament House, could have been her daughter.
“That could have happened to her and I thought ‘Well, she needs to be supported, as does every other woman who works in Parliament House.’ I just felt we are all in this together, whether we are male or female, we should be respecting a young girl who was trying to get ahead in her career and was taken advantage of.”
Ms Buikstra says the march really spoke to her.
“As I said, I’ve not really been involved before, but I am sick of juts listening to politicians going round and round in circles. It’s time we took some action and I am there with everybody else saying ‘Just listen to us, we have got something to say.’
Sydney rally capped at 1500
By Josh Dye
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has granted an exemption for the Women’s March 4 Justice to have 1500 participants, up from 500 allowed under the Public Health Order.
A NSW Health spokesperson said protesters must remain in separate groups below 500 people and mingling between groups is not permitted. Masks are encouraged.
WATCH: Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese to address today’s march
Labor leader Anthony Albanese spoke with the media earlier in light of today’s national protest. Watch it back here:
Video: Protest leader confronts Deputy PM in icy exchange in Canberra
By Rachael Dexter and Josh Dye
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack was confronted by Janine Hendry, the organiser of today’s national protest, in the halls of Parliament this morning.
Ms Hendry, a 58-year-old Melbourne academic, designer, entrepreneur and mother, quizzed the Deputy PM on whether he would come to the rally in Canberra today.
“I’ll see what I can do, I’m not making any promises but I’ll see what I can do,” he said.
Ms Hendry made multiple references to a report from the Australian Human Rights Commission
into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces which gave 55 recommendations that have as yet not been taken up by the federal government.
“I want some action and the women of Australia want some action. We’re drawing a line in the sand,” she told Mr McCormack.
Mr McCormack said during media appearances this morning he wasn’t ruling out attending today’s march, but was busy.
“I have a full book of appointments and have had for some weeks. Parliament is a very busy time and sitting weeks are particularly so.
Independent MP Zali Steggall was critical of Minister for Women Marise Payne for declining to attend.
“I don’t know how she can call herself the Minister for Women and not come out and listen to women. It is ludicrous,” she told ABC radio.
Where to get help
By Rachael Dexter
If you find any of the day’s coverage distressing and need to speak to someone, there’s always help available on the following phone lines:
‘He needs to come out’: Women’s March 4 Justice organisers refuse PM’s private meeting offer
By Nick Bonyhady and Josh Dye
Organisers of the Women’s March 4 Justice protest rally have rejected Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s invitation to meet privately in Parliament House on Monday.
Mr Morrison on Sunday cited his busy schedule in refusing to attend the planned Canberra rally in person, instead issuing an open invitation for a delegation from the women’s march to meet with him.
The marches, which are taking place around the country, follow historical rape allegations against Attorney-General Christian Porter and claims from several women that they were sexually assaulted by a former Liberal staffer. Mr Porter has vehemently denied the allegations.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued an invitation to marchers to meet with him privately after getting his second coronavirus vaccine jab in Sydney on Sunday.Credit:Edwina Pickles
Organiser Janine Hendry said she “read the room” in choosing to decline Mr Morrison’s invitation for a private meeting.
“We’ve come to the prime minister’s front door, I’d like to see him walk across the threshold and come see us,” she told ABC radio.
Who will be taking the stage today?
By Hanna Mills Turbet
Australian of the Year Grace Tame, an advocate for survivors of sexual assault, will be the headline act at Hobart’s March 4 Justice. She will be joined by Tasmanian aboriginal activist Nala Mansell and family violence survivor Natalie Hocking, among others.
Aboriginal elder Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng will take the stage in Canberra, along with Saxon Mullins, whose five-year court ordeal and appearance in Four Corners story I Am That Girl, led to consent law reform in NSW. They will be joined by former refugee turned author and CEO Aminata Conteh-Biger and ACTU secretary Sally McManus. Australian TV presenter Julia Zemiro will host the event.
Saxon Mullins, who underwent harsh cross-examination in a five-year rape trial, will speak in Canberra today.Credit:Janie Barrett
Speakers at the Melbourne rally will include former state Greens MP Huong Truong, who has experienced domestic violence, former federal Liberal MP Julia Banks, who left politics after raising concerns about the bullying and intimidation of women and Jamila Rizvi, a political commentator, former advisor to the Rudd and Gillard governments and a columnist with this masthead.
In Sydney, the lawyer Michael Bradley, who represented the now-deceased woman who alleged she was raped by Attorney-General Christian Porter in 1988, will speak. Mr Porter has strongly denied the allegation. He will be joined by Indigenous businesswoman and community leader Marie Barbaric and journalist Jess Hill, author of See What You Made Me Do which was awarded the Stella Prize in 2020.
Organisers have urged attendees at all marches to don black clothing, wear a mask and bring banners, posters and hand sanitiser.
Tasmanian MP first Liberal woman to confirm she will join women’s march
By Jewel Topsfield and Carolyn Webb
Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer is the first female Liberal MP to confirm she will attend today’s Women’s March 4 Justice at Parliament House in Canberra as Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued an open invitation for leaders of the event to meet with him.
Ms Archer said that as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse she would attend to stand in solidarity with those marching at more than 40 events nationwide, including every capital city.
“I have pledged to do more to address violence against women”: Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“I have pledged to do more to address violence against women. It is time for change – as a parliamentarian I want women to know – I hear you, I see you, I am listening to you,” said Ms Archer, the first Liberal woman to represent the electorate of Bass in Tasmania.
The rallies demanding action on violence against women are expected to attract large crowds, with thousands marching in Perth on Sunday. Crowds will gather at Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens and Sydney Town Hall at noon AEDT and and hour later in Brisbane’s King George Square.
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2021-03-14 23:00:43Z
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