Contemporary politics,local and international current affairs, science, music and extracts from the Queensland Newspaper "THE WORKER" documenting the proud history of the Labour Movement.
MAHATMA GANDHI ~ Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Here
we all are, mired in the worst reality TV show ever, Blokes Being
Reprehensible at Your Expense, with a twist everyone can see coming
‘Women
are being asked to deal with the problems created by their own
marginalisation while being called upon to reprogram the people intent
on perpetuating the conditions marginalising women.’
Last modified on Mon 29 Mar 2021 19.37 AEDT
Incredible, really, (and yet crushingly predictable, somehow) that Andrew Laming would have the audacity to make an appeal for privacy while finding the time to front his local radio station and dish some alternative “facts” about unsavoury incidents that have forced him to signal time on his parliamentary career.
Also incredible (and yet not, somehow) that the Nationals MP Anne Webster would need to make a formal complaint to the party leadership
after being sexually harassed by a male colleague in the House of
Representatives chamber (a public place last time I looked) during a
week where the government was lurching from disaster to disaster.
But
here we all are, mired, it would seem, in the worst reality television
franchise ever to have been green lit: Blokes Being Reprehensible at
Your Expense.
Monday did deliver one plus. At
least the government’s “blokes just not getting it problem” is now
sufficiently potent to have prompted a promise of a structural
adjustment to the way the Coalition deliberates.
Scott Morrison is bringing forward more women in senior positions to help men who should already get it, get it.
Monday’s cabinet reshuffle has obviously been driven by politics, not by a sudden burst of self-guided enlightenment.
But the structural shift Morrison has flagged has some promise, if delivery follows announcement.
When I characterise the change as promising, there are some obvious caveats.
It
remains enormously frustrating that a modest phalanx of Liberal women
(configured into a squad, a cabinet taskforce, led by Marise Payne) has
to be deemed responsible for helping blokes who should already get it – blokes who possess all the means and opportunity of getting it – to get it.
It
really would be better if the men running the government just got it
without the set dressing because as it stands, women are being asked to
deal with the problems created by their own marginalisation while at the
same time being called upon to reprogram the people intent on
perpetuating the conditions marginalising women.
This feels like a rat wheel nobody can get off.
The
whole palaver will be galling, but ultimately worth it, if the new
listening structure imposed on institutionalised deafness can ultimately
drive change by changing habits and mindsets.
But from where we stand today, this remains moot.
We’d
all better hope that the Liberal women who have been selected to run
the government’s in-house re-education camp take the significant moment
Brittany Higgins has created for them and run with it rather than
hanging back politely and tip toeing lest they offend because they are
concerned a less able bloke might be wheeled out to replace them just as
soon as this immediate crisis passes.
We’d
better hope that these women are prepared to speak for all Australian
women, and the men in the leadership group actually listen, because the
prospects for any meaningful change rely on those two things happening.
Speaking and listening.
From where we stand today, neither of these two eventualities are guaranteed.
Transiting now from the substance of the thing to the look of the thing, the prime minister’s other problem is obvious.
Morrison
is trying to reboot his government to make it look like a critical mass
of the Liberal and National parties actually want to reside in the 21st
century, while relying on the support of a rogue backbencher who
apparently abuses some female constituents, and who reframes what
appears to be an act of up-skirting as taking a “completely dignified”
picture of a woman in her workplace “kneeling in an awkward position,
and filling a fridge with an impossible amount of stock, which clearly
wasn’t going to fit in the fridge”.
The only
reason Laming is still in politics today is because Morrison needs his
vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. Without Laming,
Morrison would have to govern in minority.
Morrison
had a script on Monday about Laming being committed to changing his
ways through empathy training, and coming back to Canberra with a
completely different attitude.
But the government is now hostage to Laming’s history.
That history remains a counterweight to the official epiphany.
The
troubling reality the prime minister faces, as he tries to pilot the
government out of a crisis, is Laming is now both exile-in-waiting and
kingmaker.
Businessman Steve Khan has already closed one of his businesses in the outer Melbourne suburb of Dandenong and may have to shut others.(ABC News: Scott Jewel)
The coming weeks could bring on the biggest economic shock since the pandemic itself, with the end of the $90 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme. Business owners, bureaucrats and insolvency experts are cautiously awaiting the fallout.
Key points:
The $90b JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme has ended, with a million workers still relying on it
JobKeeper may have been propping up businesses that won't survive
Insolvencies are set to rise as the support ends
"JobKeeper has been very, very helpful for us, the saving grace for us really," said businessman Steve Khan, sitting in the plaza of 'Little India' in Dandenong, one of Melbourne's outer-suburban hubs.
"Our cafe and hairdresser shop were shut for virtually seven to eight months, continuously.
Insolvency laws were essentially placed on hold during the pandemic, due to the rolling uncertainty and how difficult it was to predict future business.
As a result, the number of companies winding up halved in 2020, despite Australia being in its first recession in three decades.
Those "safe harbour" provisions have ceased, and the end of JobKeeper will now force many marginal businesses to close for good.
"There will be a whole raft of workers that don't have jobs to go back to, because their employer has ceased to trade, their retail shop is no longer trading, the cafe has never been re-opened," said Adrian Hunter, partner at insolvency and turnaround firm Brooke Bird.
These so-called 'zombie' businesses – seemingly alive but actually dead – will likely finish up when JobKeeper does, according to Mr Hunter.
"I certainly expect there will be a vast number of people who have seen the writing on the wall," he told The Business.
"They've known about it, that they're on JobKeeper, and then it's going to be a frantic race to try and find work. Where that comes from? I don't know."
The End of JobKeeper(Casey Briggs)
Mega-money support
JobKeeper helped keep the Australian economy afloat, as whole industries were forced to close to stop the spread of coronavirus.
JobKeeper initially gave businesses $1,500 per fortnight per employee to help pay the wages.
It aimed to keep a connection between workers and employers, allowing a faster recovery when the health crisis was under control.
It also kept the unemployment rate from spiking, with workers considered 'employed' even though they were being paid by taxpayer funds, in many cases to work zero hours.
At one point, almost a third of Australian workers were on JobKeeper – 3.6 million employees, out of a work force of around 13 million.
The number of workers requiring it has fallen as the economy has recovered: to 1.6 million in October, 1.5 million in December and 1.1 million in recent months.
"This has always been a temporary program, this was always an emergency payment," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told ABC News Breakfast last week.
"And, at $90 billion, it's the single largest economic support program that any Australia government has ever undertaken."
Treasury believes up to 150,000 workers will move from JobKeeper into unemployment now that the wage subsidy has wound up.
"We are continuing to closely monitor the situation in different sectors and do expect that the end of the JobKeeper program will lead to some businesses closing and jobs being lost," Treasury secretary Dr Steven Kennedy told a Senate estimates hearing last week.
Dr Brendan Rynne, chief economist at consulting firm KPMG, believes the number will be closer to 100,000 workers – one in ten of those still on JobKeeper.
"[Which] while still significant, is much more manageable in a strengthening economy," he added.
Going under
Suspending insolvency laws helped companies ride out the turbulence of the pandemic. But it has also propped up unprofitable businesses, and potentially masked a big problem.
The average number of businesses entering administration annually was just over 9,300 prior to the pandemic, according to figures from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The regulator's figures for last year show just 4,943 companies went under – a slump so substantial that insolvency practitioners like Adrian Hunter's company themselves relied on JobKeeper to stay afloat.
"It enabled us to keep all of our employees on the payroll, engaged in in their day-to-day activities with the business," he said.
"We didn't lose our experienced staff and I think that was replicated across many Australian businesses, through JobKeeper."
In a situation mirrored in many businesses, the wage subsidy allowed Brooke Bird to restart quickly when demand for services resumed.
Without it, finding and reemploying skilled staff would have been difficult, Mr Hunter added.
"But how long can how long can it keep going?" he queried.
"JobKeeper's not a panacea that can go on for twelve months, 18 months. Because at the end of the day the rest of the economy is trying to prop up those businesses, waiting for the rebound."
Restructuring and insolvency expert Kirsten Farmer expects a "gentle wave" of rising insolvencies, not a rocketing surge.
Insolvency expert Kirsten Farmer, partner at Mills Oakley, says some firms have been hoarding cash during JobKeeper to survive for a while longer now that it is over.(ABC News: Daniel Irvine)
"It won't be immediate," she said.
Ms Farmer, a partner at law firm Mills Oakley, said the biggest 'red flag' was obvious.
"[Companies] that have been relying solely on JobKeeper, those are the ones that will collapse immediately," she observed.
"But the others? There will be a gentle slow work out of what their position is.
"What we're hoping to see in this time is for those companies that do have some cash and do think they can hang on to go and get some expert advice, sooner rather than later."
Uneven recovery
The economy is recovering, but unevenly. Industries based in the centre of capital cities, or that rely on foot traffic, mass gatherings, international students and tourism are still reeling from the impact of the pandemic.
Of the one million workers still receiving JobKeeper, 388,986 of them are in Victoria, which suffered a long lockdown in 2020.
"It will be a kick in the guts, a challenge, but there are other sectors that are doing reasonably well out there," said Sally Mlkito, president of the Cairns Chamber of Commerce
"The JobKeeper policy has been a great foresight by the team of people who put it together, it's been the backbone of this whole country for the past 12 months now.
Mrs Mlkito, who runs a large recruitment company, would like to see the subsidy continue for employers in areas like hers, impacted by the cratering of the international tourism market. But she concedes it is over.
"At some point we have to stand on our own two feet, even though it's going to be very difficult."
The federal government has launched a $1.2 billion tourism-focused package that, amongst other measures, will pay half the price of nearly 800,000 airline tickets to destinations, including Cairns, encouraging Australians to travel domestically.
More to come
Insolvency practitioner Adrian Hunter doesn't expect the level of "shock and awe" usually associated with the surprise collapse of a major retail chain, triggering disbelief in staff and fear in suppliers and creditors.
"[Many] of these businesses haven't traded since last year … so I expect to see a slow ramping up of insolvencies of those companies start to come through," he predicted.
"But the 'surprise factor' of those businesses not returning? The creditors have largely probably factored that in.
"They've driven past that shop, that outlet, 'Yep, they've moved on' and they've already adjusted their own business to realise that that debt's not going to be recoverable.
Businessman Steve Khan is still weighing his options.
He shut his grocery store early in the pandemic. The hairdresser and café remain open. But from 13 employees just over a year ago he is down to just five.
Businessman Steve Khan walks down a street in Melbourne's 'Little India' in Dandenong where he owns several businesses.(ABC News: Scott Jewell)
With more people working from home, and no large weddings drawing crowds of brides to the nearby dress shops, trade is just a fraction of what it was.
"We will be struggling. People are still sceptical of coming out, of dining… we will have to lay off a couple of people," he said.
"JobKeeper was there and that sort of kept us going … I wish that it would have continued, even on lower payments, for another six months or something.
"That would've been very helpful for us, it would have helped us get back onto our feet."
A tent city display highlights NSW's homelessness crisis.(ABC Newcastle: Giselle Wakatama)
Domestic violence and homelessness groups along with tenancy advocates say New South Wales is on the brink of a 'humanitarian crisis' in terms of homelessness.
Key points:
Families who cannot find a home to rent are opting to live in their car and send their children to live with relatives
Advocates fear the end of the moratorium on rental increases will trigger a "humanitarian crisis"
One homelessness hostel had received 119 referrals for homeless people in distress in the past month alone
A rally in Newcastle on Monday was told crisis accommodation was at capacity and rental vacancies were virtually non-existent.
Nicole Grgas from the Hunter Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service says people are desperate and resources are stretched to the limit.
She says people who are now at risk have nowhere to go.
"And we are speaking to more tenants who have orders from tribunals that it is time for them to leave their homes, " Ms Grgas said.
Ms Grgas said some renters had looked at 100 or more homes, only to lose out to people willing to pay up to a year's rent in advance.
Nicole Grgas from Hunter Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service says the rental situation is akin to a humanitarian crisis.(ABC News: Ross McLoughlin)
"People are telling us that they are not even able to get storage for their goods, that's how many people are in the market at the moment," she said.
Lack of housing widespread
Kelly Hansen is the chief executive for Nova for Women and sats the end of JobSeeker and JobKeeper, as well as the rent-rise moratorium, have created a perfect storm.
"I think that this is a humanitarian crisis and it is now going to be more visible to the wider community."
Ms Hansen said homelessness was affecting a cross-section of people, many of who had never been without a home before.
"Look around you, we have got people who are two-income earners getting evicted and they can't find properties, they are shocked, we are all shocked," she said.
It is a scenario not lost on Homelessness NSW chief executive Katherine McKernan.
Welfare officials say the state should brace itself for more tent cities.(ABC News: Herlyn Kaur)
"With the loss of JobSeeker and JobKeeper, we have done some economic modelling and in Newcastle, for example, we are looking at potentially an increase in homelessness of up to about 38 per cent and people living in housing stress [at] around a 70 per cent increase," she said.
And the problem has not been isolated to Newcastle with people at the rally told of a statewide crisis.
"And people are often separated from their children, living in the car or tent, while children stay with family."
More crisis accommodation needed
In November, the Minister for Families Communities and Disability Services, Gareth Ward, announced a $29-million expansion of the NSW government's Together Home project to address rough sleepers.
But a crisis worker from the Matthew Talbot Hostel said that was not enough.
He told the crowd the local hostel had received 119 referrals for homeless people in distress in the past month alone.
The rally ended with Jenny's story, read out by an advocate.
"This left Jenny with nowhere to stay.
"Jenny spent two nights in hotel temporary accommodation before entering a women's refuge."
The advocate then explained that because of severe injuries sustained at the hands of her abuser Jenny could not work, which meant she was priced out of the rental market.
"There are currently no properties in the Newcastle area that are affordable for Jenny.
"Jenny wanted you to know this, these are her words."
Labor believed its fund would help projects like the processing of rare earth minerals.(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese will promise to establish a $15 billion "national reconstruction fund" if Labor wins the next election, ahead of the party's special policy conference beginning in Sydney.
Key points:
Mr Albanese argues the COVID-19 pandemic highlights weaknesses in Australia's manufacturing industry
The fund would operate with an independent board making decisions about how to invest the initial $15 billion
Mr Albanese has repeatedly criticised the Coalition for eroding the local manufacturing industry
Mr Albanese argued the COVID-19 pandemic had highlighted significant weaknesses in Australia's manufacturing industry and said billions needed to be spent to ensure the nation could support itself in the future.
The fund would operate in a similar fashion as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), with an independent board making decisions about how to invest the initial $15 billion.
The board would pick projects it would receive some return on investment from, and the fund's coffers could be topped up by future governments if deemed necessary.
Mr Albanese has repeatedly criticised the Coalition for eroding the local manufacturing industry, and suggested in one of his early policy speeches as leader that Australia needed to be "a country that continues to make things."
The Opposition says the fund would have the task of bolstering Australia's car, train and ship manufacturing.(ABC: Jonathon Poulson)
Labor believed its fund would help projects such as processing of rare earth minerals, currently mined in Australia but shipped overseas for processing to be turned into products such as batteries.
Following the demise of Ford, Toyota and GM Holden's local factories, the Opposition said the fund would also be given the task of looking at bolstering Australia's car, train and ship manufacturing.
Investment in commercialising Australia's medical research and manufacturing space would also fall within the fund's remit.
The announcement was made ahead of the ALP's two-day special platform conference in Revesby, in south-west Sydney.
Craig Emerson and Jay Weatherill release ALP election autopsy
Four hundred delegates will meet virtually to refine the party's suite of policies ahead of the next election.
One of the key recommendations from the review of Labor's 2019 campaign loss, compiled by former South Australian premier Jay Weatherill and former federal minister Craig Emerson, was that the ALP's platform "remain bold but be streamlined and simplified".
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten was criticised for running a "complex" campaign, with too many policies, which had the dual result of confusing voters and making the party too large a target for attacks from the Coalition.
"Labor should not be less ambitious about policy but its policy agenda should be less complex," Mr Weatherill and Dr Emerson argued.
Originally the ALP had planned to hold its triennial policy conference in Canberra in December last year but decided to scrap it due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The party has not been able to run elections for the 400 delegates, representing a mixture of the ALP's rank and file members, as well as representatives from the trade unions affiliated with the party.
Delegates from the last policy conference, held in Adelaide in 2018, have been drafted in for the purpose of this year's special virtual meeting.
The conference, utilising online voting software, may prove to be a less fiery and raucous affair than previous years.
Policy flashpoints at Labor conferences in years gone by have regularly been marked by walkouts of delegates — something hard to do in a digital forum.
Women from all sides of politics are speaking out about what it's like to work in a culture of sexism.
It was a cause for celebration when 30-year-old Kate Ellis was appointed as the youngest Australian to ever become a federal minister. But within 18 months things had turned ugly and her career was on the line.
Key points:
Former Labor MP Kate Ellis has gathered accounts of a large number of female politicians
Former Liberal MP Julia Banks says the workplace culture in Parliament House is the "most unsafe in Australia"
Ms Ellis expects there are "hundreds more stories" of misogyny
In November 2009 she found herself in the "ridiculous" position of telling a national newspaper editor, "I promise I've never even kissed him," as she pleaded for her political life.
"I still cringe when I think how pathetic it was that I was begging," she says.
She says weaponised gossip in Parliament House and a rumour that she and her female chief of staff were both having a sexual relationship with a male adviser in their office "was everywhere".
A major newspaper was going to print the story that the alleged love triangle was "destabilising" the government.
If published, she knew it would be career ending. "I would be labelled as a slut and as someone who isn't really up for the job," Ms Ellis tells Australian Story.
Not only was there "zero" truth to the rumour, Ms Ellis also says the inside knowledge of the workings of her office meant the story could only have originated from within her own party. "The only reason was to undermine me," she says.
The pleas worked and the newspaper editor agreed not to publish, but there was no cause for celebration knowing: "Someone was actively fabricating a story to make sure that it looked like I was some flippant floozy who wasn't really serious about the job that I'd been promoted to do."
Ms Ellis suspects the sex rumours originated from inside her own party.(AAP: Stefan Postles)
During her tenure as a minister, Ms Ellis was credited with introducing national quality standards for childcare and finalising the national plan to end violence against women and children. But she says throughout her career she and her female colleagues faced harassment, sexual slurs and destructive gossip designed to stop them being politically effective.
"It's really strange how when you leave the parliament and re-enter normal life that you slowly start to realise how the rest of the world operates," she says.
"Things that I used to accept were part of the job are really not OK.".
She decided to reach out to other women — MPs and staffers across the political spectrum — to compare notes, and what came to light "would horrify the public".
The stories tell a tale of systemic inequality, sexism, casual misogyny and sexual harassment.
"Focus on physical appearance is much greater for women, focus on their private lives, issues around motherhood, slut-shaming, personal attacks, rumours and gossip used to undermine women in a way men don't have to face to the same extent in parliament," Ms Ellis says.
"It makes it harder for you to actually focus on doing your job. There's this casual misogyny that shows up in a whole range of ways.
"People are rewarded in politics for bad behaviour. If you undermine someone, then you're more likely to be promoted."
Ms Ellis says constant derogatory comments interfered with her ability to do her job.(AAP: Alan Porritt)
'How many blokes have you f***ed'
Ms Ellis was 27 when she was first elected to parliament in the 2004 federal election. In 2007 she eclipsed Paul Keating's achievement, becoming the youngest Australian government minister when then-prime minister Kevin Rudd appointed her minister for youth and minister for sport.
"I know that would have put a lot of noses out of joint and so it's probably no surprise that there were people who wanted to undermine me," Ms Ellis says.
"We just had this great election result which meant that we had a backbench brimming with people with ambition.
"You can only get promoted when there's a vacancy and some people might think it helps to hurry along those vacancies."
Over the course of her 15 years in parliament, she would take on the ministries of early childhood education, sport and the status of women, among others.
She says she never spoke to other women about the sexism she was facing.
"You don't want to have a focus on, 'Hey, do you know who thinks I'm a stupid bimbo? Who thinks I've slept with half the parliament? Do you know who is spreading rumours that I was caught naked in the prayer room?'" she says.
But gendered stereotyping and gibes were a constant throughout her political life, beginning from day one.
"I'd only been an MP for a couple of weeks and we were out for drinks and this Liberal staffer quite aggressively just said, 'Kate, the only thing anyone wants to know about you is just how many blokes you f***ed in order to get into parliament.'
Just the fact that he came up and said that to my face when I was an elected MP and he was a staff member, that he still had the confidence to do that," she says.
Ms Ellis interviews Senator Hanson-Young as part of her research for a new book exposing life as a woman in politics.(Australian Story: Olivia Rousset)
When she first came to politics, Ellis says most of the MPs were men, most of the senior staff were men, and all of the factional powerbrokers were men.
"I remember being a young staff member and being hit on by MPs," she says. "That wasn't uncommon."
"But I know of much worse stories. Certainly when I was a staffer and a volunteer, I saw a lot of things but I also heard allegations of what I'd call serious sexual assault and misconduct from an elected Labor MP.
"This is something that isn't new. We've seen a number of stories recently, but I suspect that there are hundreds and hundreds more."
Now that Ms Ellis has left politics and "taken off her armour", she is ready to add to the national conversation around women in Canberra by penning the stories of high-profile current and former female politicians in a new book, Sex, Lies and Question Time.
"I just wasn't quite sure what I was going to hear," Ms Ellis says. "Every conversation just started to build this picture that there is something seriously wrong in Parliament House."
Former prime minister Julia Gillard spoke to Ms Ellis about her arrival in parliament and her naivety in thinking that it would quickly develop into a place of gender equality.
"I was a student at Adelaide University when I first woke to feminism, and if you'd said to me then, 'When is there going to be a gender-equal world?' I would have said, 'Oh, you know, 10, 15 years' time, no problems,' but I was wrong about that," Ms Gillard says.
It's been 10 years since Tony Abbott was photographed in front of anti-Julia Gillard protest signs which read "Ditch the Witch" and "Juliar Bob Brown's bitch".(AAP: Alan Porritt)
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young was appalled by the treatment of Ms Gillard but was herself caught in the crossfire of sexual slurs and sledging.
"It's like you can't win either way. There's no nice balance. Some days you're a bimbo and other days you're a bitch," she says.
Minister for Science Industry and Technology Karen Andrews told Australian Story the events of the last few weeks were "absolutely the worst I have seen here".
"We are collectively a disappointment to the people in Australia, and that's appalling," she says.
"Things that I would never have imagined would have would have gone on in this building are now being played out in national media."
Changing an entrenched and destructive culture in a workplace where women are still a significant minority isn't simple. But Ms Ellis believes silence is no longer an option.
"I've long said that no boys' club has ever voluntarily dismantled themselves. That's just not going to happen," Ms Ellis says.
"But women are standing up, we're going to call it out and we're going to demand change. And I want to be a part of that."
When she started writing her book six months ago, Ms Ellis says she thought it would be "controversial to suggest there might be cultural issues" within Parliament House.
"I now share the sense of rage that women across Australia have," she said in a recent tweet.
"I know a lot of us feel at the moment that we want to burn the place down, but if that sense changes to we want to take over the place then I hope that women will be able to learn from the experiences of those who've gone before."
Here are the stories of current and former female politicians, in their own words.
Sarah Hanson-Young
Senator, Greens 2008-current
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Parliament House has an air of "tribalism" and "aggression".(AAP: Mick Tsikas)
I ran in the 2007 election. I was 25 at the time and had an 18-month-old baby on my hip
I was shocked at the aggression in the parliament itself. I was genuinely confronted by the deep tribalism in that building.
You're walking into parliament every day and needing to prepare for sexist slurs that will be thrown across the chamber. It is designed to both silence and shame women at the same time. It takes a lot of energy to put your armour on, you're going to battle every day.
If we drew the curtains back even further I think the public would be horrified.
Senator Hanson-Young was criticised in the media for wearing this cut-out dress in the Senate in 2018.(AAP: Lukas Coch)
I've had names of men that it was rumoured that I slept with whispered to me as they walk past me in the chamber, as we're sitting down to vote.
I became anxious of standing on my feet, particularly in Question Time. We'd been debating a motion in relation to violence against women in the Senate chamber and Senator [David] Leyonhjelm yelled across at me in the chamber, 'You should stop shagging men, Sarah.' I was quite shocked. I walked over to him and I said quietly, 'What did you just say to me?' And he confirmed that he had said this. I told him he was a creep. And he told me to f*** off.
For years I thought it would be weak if I responded, if I allowed anyone to know that this was happening to me. I asked him publicly in the chamber for an apology. He refused, went on national television, national radio and slandered me even further. I decided I had to take him to court. And I won.
The amazing thing is that calling it out and naming it is taking all the power away from the bullies. I feel like I'm 100 times stronger than I ever was.
Senator Hanson-Young was overcome with emotion after winning a defamation case against then-senator David Leyonhjelm.
Julia Banks
Former member for Chisholm
Liberal 2016-2019
Ms Banks says Parliament House has the "most unsafe workplace culture in our country".(ABC News: Nick Haggarty)
I entered parliament relatively late in life. I was in my 50s and I had behind me a career in the legal and corporate sector. I was immediately struck by the fact that it reminded me of when I first entered the workforce in the late 80s in terms of its attitudes to women.
It is very much an environment that is frozen in time. You go into there and think, 'Is this really happening?' I really believe our federal Parliament House is the most unsafe workplace culture in our country. And not only do women have nowhere to go to report misconduct, but they are subject to misconduct every day. I'm less talking about the MPs, I'm talking about the 5,000 other staff that are there.
When I announced I wasn't going to recontest, I also called out the entrenched anti-women culture. It reached peak toxicity and I thought, 'I'm going to exit. And if I'm going to exit this place it is going to be on my terms.' I wasn't going to limp out.
That was just the beginning of a three-month period of reprisals, retribution, abuse. This behaviour in Parliament House is so endemic and entrenched that men and women can often be blind to it.
If only our leaders would take accountability, rather than hoping that an issue would go away, if they introduced structures that would address this problem, then that is what gives me hope.
Karen Andrews
Federal Member for McPherson
Liberal 2010-current
Liberal MP Karen Andrews says there is "constant low-level" sexism that she puts up with "day after day".(AAP: Lukas Coch)
My early days here were a real eye-opener in terms of the way that parliament operated, but also in terms of the environment in which I was working. I started my working life as an engineer. And you were always treated on the basis of whether or not you could do the job.
It's very adversarial. There is a lot of constant low-level stuff — you just put up with it day after day. It's the remarks about how you look, how you speak, how you present yourself. Comments that are really just unacceptable to anyone in any environment, let alone in the national parliament.
And that's what I'd really like to see change. The parliament should reflect the Australian population, and that means that we need people with a wide range of experience, different ages, different genders.
The circumstances in which we find ourselves cannot continue. We are collectively a disappointment to the people in Australia.
Karen Andrews says she has "had a gutful" of sexist behaviour in the Liberal Party.
Tanya Plibersek
Opposition Minister for Education and Women
Labor 1998-current
Tanya Plibersek says there is an "increasing tide of misogynist abuse" in federal government.(AAP: Dan Himbrechts)
I came in 1998 with a big group of women. I think you learn pretty early on that not all your enemies are on the other side of politics, and you need to be able to deal with that.
I think one of the reasons that female parliamentarians aren't focused on calling out sexism on our own behalf is we think, 'Well, you know, we've got power, we've got a voice. Our focus isn't and can't be on ourselves. Our focus has to be on the people that we're serving.'
Ms Plibersek interjects during Question Time in August 2006.(AAP: Alan Porritt)
What does sexism look like in parliament today? It looks like being spoken over, it looks like having your ideas repeated back to you like they're somehow original. It looks like an assumption that if you're not aggressive in the same way as a bloke would be aggressive in the same circumstance that you are somehow letting down the team. A lot of it is unconscious. I think there's a generation of men who don't even realise that they're doing it.
I try and call gossip out as soon as I hear about it or it spreads like a cancer. The simple truth is members of parliament staff have very few protections.
Natasha Stott Despoja
Former senator
Australian Democrats 1995-2007
After leaving politics, Natasha Stott Despoja went on to establish Our Watch, the national foundation for the prevention of violence against women and children.(AAP Image: Daniel Munoz)
When I first started working in federal parliament I was relatively young, and clearly in a very male-dominated environment.
I look back and I remember the ire of men, be they politicians or others, who were upset if you wouldn't go out with them. There's one married MP who pursued me as a staffer and then bullied me as a senator.
In my day you were called "princess" or "precious" when you complained about bad behaviour of male colleagues or their staff members or indeed members of parliament.
It wasn't so much a culture of silence, it was a culture of silencing women who complained.
When it comes to our nation's parliament, I want our leaders to play a leadership role. This has to be top-down and bottom-up, but particularly it has to be led by the people in whom we give power.
Watch Australian Story's Chamber of Silence 8:00pm (AEDT) on ABCTV, iview and YouTube.
Dr Webster has lodged a complaint with the National Party over a man who allegedly harassed her in Parliament House.(Supplied)
The Federal Government has been rocked by yet another harassment claim, as scrutiny over Parliament's workplace culture continues.
Key points:
Nationals MP Anne Webster says she was harassed in Parliament last week.
It comes as Andrew Laming takes leave over a series of reports about his treatment of women
There are calls for that review to include drug and alcohol use
Victorian Nationals MP Anne Webster has lodged a complaint against a man who allegedly harassed her in Parliament House last week.
The former social worker told the ABC she was shocked at the treatment, especially given the recent scrutiny of inappropriate behaviour towards women in her workplace.
"I mean, really? I was dumbfounded by this behaviour."
Dr Webster said she did not want to go into details of what happened or who did it, but she has lodged a complaint with the National Party and its leader Michael McCormack.
"I've since spoken to the person and he assures me it won't happen again," she said.
"We need to work very hard at changing the culture of what is acceptable."
'We can change the culture we're all tired of'
The Mallee MP now knows first hand how challenging it can be to navigate the complaints process.
"Even it to call it a 'complaints process' it does imply the person who has raised the issue is the problem, we're the complainer, and I don't think that's helpful," she said.
"These issues need to be raised, we need to be able to have mature conversations, we need to be able to work through with support so that we can change the culture we're all tired of."
She wants to use her experience to help guide change as she liaises with past and present Nationals staffers and politicians, as part of the inquiry into Parliament's workplace culture.
"The role the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack gave me was to be the go-to person for staff who've exited now, MPs and Senators should they want to raise issues, so they had a person to speak to," she said.
"He implemented that quickly as soon as it became clear we needed to do more than hope it'll go away."
Is drug and alcohol testing at Parliament a good idea?
The inquiry headed by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins was commissioned after former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins went public with allegations she was raped in a ministerial office.
One issue it's expected to canvas is whether parliamentarians should face alcohol and drug tests.
Dr Laming is now on leave and won't contest the next election, after Nine News aired allegations Dr Laming had used Facebook to accuse one woman of misappropriating funds from a charity organisation she worked at, which she denies.
He also allegedly harassed another woman and her husband online.
He will seek counselling and empathy training at his own expense but is expected to remain a member of the Federal Government for the rest of the term.
Josh Frydenberg reveals Andrew Laming won't contest the next election
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Sunday rejected suggestions he should quit immediately, which would leave the Coalition without a majority in the lower house.
"He's going to take some time to have this additional support and various sessions he's going to be engaged in and then he'll turn to Parliament in budget week."
However, Senator Gallagher said he needed to leave politics straight away.
"He brings the Parliament into disrepute, his behaviour has been disgraceful and I don't see any other way of dealing with this other than for him to go," she said.
Anthony Albanese calls for disgraced backbencher to stand down immediately
"It's just crazy to think this man can behave in this way, admit to behaving in this way, and for the government to continue to accept his vote.
Australia Institute calls for rule change to allow renewables to replace fossil fuels in underpinning grid reliability
Tesla
Powerpacks and inverters in an energy storage system facility in
California. The Australia Institute has commissioned research that found
that renewables and batteries could provide equivalent energy security
to coal and gas.
Renewable energy and batteries can secure Australia’s electricity grid as effectively as coal and gas, new research suggests.
The
research, commissioned by the Australia Institute thinktank and
released on Monday, found clean technologies provided the fast frequency
response service and voltage control needed to secure the energy grid
and reduce cost. But the report says regulatory barriers currently limit
the ability of renewable energy and batteries to provide system
security.
The
electricity grid requires controls to keep frequency and voltage within
safe limits – a service historically provided by coal, gas and hydro
power stations.
“The business model
underpinning coal and gas is collapsing before our eyes and the good
news is that batteries and renewable energy are now able to step in and
keep the grid secure,” energy economist Prof Bruce Mountain said.
“Renewables
already create the cheapest electricity in the market and the last leg
the fossil fuel industry had to stand on was the security services they
have historically provided. Now we can see that even those services are
being delivered in a more reliable and affordable way by renewable
energy and that trend will only accelerate in the future.”
The thinktank is calling for new rules governing energy security to allow renewables to better underpin grid reliability.
The
research was commissioned to assist the energy security board as it
redesigns the national electricity market. Australian energy ministers
are due to determine a new “post-2025” design for the national market in
June 2021.
Monday’s
research showed that 51% of Australian survey respondents would prefer
to pay for new batteries to keep the grid secure, while 26% would prefer
to continue to pay coal generators for this service.
“As
coal generators continue to lose money, they will make financial
decisions that harm system security by reducing maintenance or
mothballing units,” the Australia Institute’s energy policy and
regulatory lead, Dan Cass, said.
“Coal power
stations are closing and being replaced by clean energy, but there is no
national plan for replacing the security services that are provided by
coal. Batteries, renewables and demand response are being held back by
barriers that prevent them from contributing to system security, despite
their exceptional potential in this space.”
Cass
said the latest research showed that renewable energy was capable of
providing sufficient system security to support the grid and Australians
were “ready for that transition to take place”.
“Batteries can deliver far more system security than a coal generator of the same power capacity.”
In
a forecast that was also released on Monday, the Australian energy
market operator (Aemo) said gas supply in the country should be secure
until 2026, provided planned developments and pipeline expansions went
ahead in the east and south-east.
But the
forecast also highlighted southern supply risks for 2023 if developments
at the Port Kembla gas terminal were delayed and winter demand peaked
in Victoria.
The forecast, developed using gas
producers and industrial gas user data, highlighted that the sector was
on the cusp of a transformation.
“Australia’s
energy sector is going through a rapid transition, driven by changes in
consumer behaviour and efforts to decarbonise the system,” the Aemo
forecasting group manager, Nicola Falcon, said.
