Key posts
‘I became a survivor when I was 17’: Madeleine is marching to protect her younger sister
By Jewel Topsfield
Madeleine Chia is marching today because she never wants her younger sister to go through what she did.
“I became a survivor when I was 17 and I would not wish that on anyone so I am marching today to make sure this doesn’t happen to any other young people,” the 20-year-old says.
Ms Chia, the education officer at Australian National University students’ association, says she was assaulted at university.
Katchmirr Russell, Madeleine Chia, Avan Daruwalla and Aoibhinn Crimmins ahead of the Women’s March 4 Justice at Parliament House in Canberra.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
“It doesn’t just affect women in parliament … it’s super prevalent in universities. We just want to stand up today and say no.”
Ms Chia will be delivering a joint speech at today’s Women’s March 4 Justice in Canberra with Avan Daruwalla, the women’s officer at the ANU student’s association.
She says there will be a “massive” contingent of marchers from ANU.
“I know a lot of students are angry. University students have been fighting for an end to sexual violence and institutional betrayal for so many years.”
Ms Chia says she believes this is a moment for all women to stand together.
“We need to make sure our voices are heard and sexual violence isn’t just something that happens to women, and happens to non-binary people especially, it’s something that should not happen within society,” she said.
Melbourne rally given green light to host 5000 people
By Rachel Eddie
Melbourne’s March4Justice has been approved to involve 5000 people under COVID-19 rules, the organisers have confirmed.
The sit-in at Treasury Gardens previously had a permit for 1000 people, but that was extended on Monday morning.
In a statement, former federal MP Julia Banks said the nationwide rallies were “our collective voice”.
Former MP Julia Banks will address the Melbourne rally.Credit:Simon Schluter
“This is one of the most defining moments for Australian women because it’s driven by the most powerful force that makes up 51 per cent of our population: women.”
Sue Anne Hunter, a Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman from SNAICC (Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care) and Family Matters, said Aboriginal women had long-suffered gendered violence perpetrated by white men.
“Our people die at the hands of law enforcement every week. The allegations, cover up and silence on gendered violence in Parliament is part of the same system of abuse and same lack of legal or political consequences. Enough is enough.”
About 13,000 people have registered their interest in attending the Treasury Gardens rally from noon AEDT, though organisers have asked for people to consider showing their support in other ways including online.
Organisers are asking attendees to wear face masks and bring hand sanitiser to minimise the risk of spreading COVID-19.
The Department of Health has been contacted.
‘The issue of women’s safety and misogyny isn’t specific to Australia’: Australian lawyer to lead London march
By Jewel Topsfield
An Australian lawyer who left a top tier Australian law firm after she says she was sexually harassed is taking the Women’s March 4 Justice global with an event organised in London on Monday.
Fiona Thatcher, who moved to London in 2017, organised the march, which will meet at the Royal Courts of Justice at 12pm GMT on Monday, March 15, and march to the Australian High Commission.
Fiona Thatcher is a London-based lawyer.
She said she was really riled up after the events of the last month including the historic rape allegations against Attorney General Christian Porter, which he vehemently denies.
“I think the Porter allegations are similar to those against (Supreme Court Justice) Brett Kavanaugh in the United States,” Ms Thatcher says.
“I think it’s really gotten to a lot of women and brought up things that happened in the past.”
Ms Thatcher organised the march via an Australians living in London Facebook page and will give a speech at the event.
She said police had told her it was ok to proceed despite COVID restrictions, although warned they sent officers in if crowds got greater than 300 people.
“Obviously the issue of women’s safety and misogyny isn’t specific to Australia. We ask Australians to come to the march in solidarity,” Ms Thatcher said.
Sarah Henderson to join Liberal colleagues at Canberra rally
Another Victorian Liberal Senator has revealed she will attend the rally in Canberra.
Sarah Henderson confirmed to Jewel Topsfield, our reporter on the ground in Canberra, that she will attend today’s march in Canberra.
She will join at least two other Liberal women, Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer and Victorian Senator Jane Hume.
Senator Sarah Henderson will join at least two Liberal colleagues at the rally.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Christian Porter launches defamation action against the ABC
By Michaela Whitbourne
Attorney-General Christian Porter has launched Federal Court defamation proceedings against the ABC over an online article that he alleges portrays him as the perpetrator of a “brutal” rape that contributed to a woman taking her own life.
The lawsuit is expected to put an end to calls for a public inquiry into his fitness to remain in office because a trial would ventilate many of the same issues before a judge, and involve the same witnesses.
In a statement of claim filed on Monday, lawyers for Mr Porter, who is on medical leave, seeks damages, including aggravated damages, for a February 26 article published on the ABC’s website, headlined “Scott Morrison, senators and AFP told of historical rape allegation against Cabinet Minister”.
Attorney-General Christian Porter is expected to give evidence in the proceedings.Credit:Trevor Collens
ABC journalist Louise Milligan, who broke the story, is also named as a party to the lawsuit.
Mr Porter, who is not named in the ABC article, has retained a trio of high-powered lawyers, including Sydney barristers Bret Walker, SC, and Sue Chrysanthou, SC, and solicitor Rebekah Giles.
“Over the last few weeks, the Attorney-General has been subjected to trial by media without regard to the presumption of innocence or the rules of evidence and without any proper disclosure of the material said to support the untrue allegations,” Ms Giles said in a statement on Monday.
“The trial by media should now end with the commencement of these proceedings.”
Melbourne splinter group to march to Victoria’s Liberal headquarters
By Rachel Eddie
A Melbourne splinter group plans to march from Treasury Gardens to Victoria’s Liberal headquarters.
Anneke Demanuele, a member of the National Union of Students Executive, said she initiated the breakaway march because she was disappointed the Melbourne action would not include a march and that organisers were seeking to limit the number of attendees to abide by COVID-19 permits.
Ms Demanuele told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald she was also disappointed that former Liberal MP Julia Banks – who left politics because of bullying of women – would be speaking at the event.
“We’re also concerned about reports that cabinet ministers have been invited to the sister event in Canberra. In our minds, this is a protest against Scott Morrison’s cabinet and government, not an opportunity for them to pretend to be our allies,” Ms Demanuele said in a statement.
The splinter group will attend the official sit-in at Treasury Gardens before breaking off to head to Victoria’s Liberal headquarters on Collins St. The group also plan to stop at the Melbourne Club, a social club which bans women from being members.
Second Victorian Liberal woman to attend Canberra rally
By Jewel Topsfield
Victorian Liberal Senator Jane Hume said she will be attending today’s march in Canberra.
“I have some friends that are marching and I have also canvassed it with my staff, and some of them will be joining me,” she told Sky News.
“I won’t be attending the full march because unfortunately the sitting agenda just doesn’t allow that but I will be out there today.”
Senator Jane Hume will join Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer at the rally in Canberra.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Asked by the Sky News interviewer if it would be just herself and Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer, Senator Hume said: “I haven’t spoken to my colleagues but I don’t think you should be judging colleagues on whether they are out there or not.
“As you know, a sitting day in Parliament is a very busy day for everybody.”
But she said there was a shared sentiment around the building that the march is for the right purposes and everybody deserves a safe place to work.
“While we may not necessarily agree with all the items in the petition, we do agree with the sentiment behind that and we want to show solidarity.”
Senator Hume said it was an “extraordinary lost opportunity” for the organisers not to meet with the Prime Minister.
“Parliament House is a place where community, state and global leaders meet with the Prime Minister. The organisers have been invited in for time with the Prime Minister, they should grasp the nettle and take this opportunity.”
She said the organisers’ frustration was that women weren’t being heard and this was their opportunity.
“They have been invited in with open arms and open ears, we want to listen.”
‘It’s hard to look into anonymous suggestions’: Albanese encourages women to speak out
By Katina Curtis
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has been quizzed about the allegations raised by female Labor staffers about sexual harassment and assault by MPs and male staffers, reported at news.com.au on Sunday.
He said it was a good thing women in the Labor Party had a network through a Facebook group where they could discuss such problems, and that he had read what had been made public.
While no names of perpetrators were put in the allegations, Mr Albanese encouraged women to come forward.
“It’s hard to look into anonymous suggestions. That is the truth. If people have ideas about how you do that, I would be certainly open to hearing them,” he said.
“I would certainly be more than willing to listen, and now am publicly saying what we’ve said privately, which is [I am] always available to deal with these issues.
“I wasn’t aware of ‘a couple’ of issues. I was aware of an issue last year that was dealt with to the satisfaction of the woman involved.”
Labor’s national executive adopted a new policy two weeks ago for how party members should report and respond to allegations of harassment, bullying and assault.
Mr Albanese wouldn’t say whether he would require any MPs who may be publicly named in allegations of sexual harassment or to step aside.
“I am not aware of any claims that have been put forward against any members of the caucus,” he said.
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.”
Most Viewed in National
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMipwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3dvbWVuLXMtbWFyY2gtNC1qdXN0aWNlLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1wYXJsaWFtZW50LWhvdXNlLXN5ZG5leS1tZWxib3VybmUtcHJvdGVzdHMtdG8tdGFrZS1wbGFjZS1vdmVyLWdlbmRlci1lcXVhbGl0eS0yMDIxMDMxNC1wNTdhbXUuaHRtbNIBpwFodHRwczovL2FtcC5zbWguY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3dvbWVuLXMtbWFyY2gtNC1qdXN0aWNlLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy1wYXJsaWFtZW50LWhvdXNlLXN5ZG5leS1tZWxib3VybmUtcHJvdGVzdHMtdG8tdGFrZS1wbGFjZS1vdmVyLWdlbmRlci1lcXVhbGl0eS0yMDIxMDMxNC1wNTdhbXUuaHRtbA?oc=5
2021-03-15 00:21:29Z
52781434291397
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Women’s March 4 Justice LIVE updates: Parliament House, Sydney, Melbourne protests to take place over gender equality - The Sydney Morning Herald"
Post a Comment