House debates

Monday, 15 March 2021

Statements by Members

March 4 Justice

1:54 pm

Photo of Sharon ClaydonSharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I've just returned from the front lawns of Parliament House, where tens of thousands of Australian women and girls are gathered in a march for justice, in the hope that this parliament—those of us who sit in power in this House—might listen, that we might hear and that we might have some empathy for the messages being sent loud and clear to those that sit in this place.

Women won't be silenced in Australia. We want to be safe. We actually want a safe workplace to come to, wherever we live, whatever job we do. We want to be able to go out at night, we want to be able to wear what we choose and we want to be able to conduct ourselves in the way that men in this country take for granted each and every day. We need a Prime Minister now that can actually listen. We need a Prime Minister that would confront this issue head on, not hide in his office, too busy to go out and meet women on his doorstep.

I want to pay tribute today to every woman who stood up around the country. I want to pay tribute to the women and girls in my home town of Newcastle that are out marching today and to every brave woman who has shared her story. This trauma cannot count for nothing. You must act and you must act now. (Time expired)

1:56 pm

Photo of Katie AllenKatie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Everyone deserves to be safe in their workplace, but sexual harassment and violence don't just happen in the workplace; they have happened in every place in society since the beginning of time, and they have to stop. Every woman deserves the right both to feel safe and to be safe, wherever she is, always.

The Women's March 4 Justice today highlights exactly that need for change. I congratulate every person that is marching today, whether it is here in Canberra or right around the country. We need to hear their sensible requests, but, more than that, we need to act on their call for action. The warm winds of change for women are now howling through the corridors of power, and it is not a moment too soon. That's why I implore the organisers of today's protest to reconsider their decision and meet with the Prime Minister today to enact change through government in the heart of our democracy.

I encourage everyone to read the Respect@Work report undertaken by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, and called for by Kelly O'Dwyer, my predecessor. I'm pleased that the federal government has already committed $2 million to its implementation. I'd like to see more. I look forward to the government's formal response to the 55 recommendations of the report and to the independent inquiry into our parliament's workplace that the Prime Minister has asked Kate Jenkins to lead. The time for change is now. The time for us all to act is now.

1:57 pm

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

Today the women of Australia said, 'Hear us roar,' and roar they did. They also said, 'Enough is enough.' They gathered in their thousands outside of this parliament and right around the country. We've seen real anger outside this building today and quite an extraordinary speech by a brave young woman, Brittany Higgins. Just down the road from here we saw Grace Tame, the Australian of the Year, deliver a powerful message again: that we have a scourge of violence and sexual abuse against women and children, and we need to do more about it.

I appreciate the previous speaker raising the Respect@Work report. We haven't even had a government response. It was tabled more than a year ago. People do want an actual response. They don't want what we've seen in recent times, where women feel as though the message that they've given keeps falling on deaf ears. As Janine Hendry said today:

We have already come to the front door, now it’s up to the Government to cross the threshold and come to us. We will not be meeting behind closed doors.

I was proud to participate today, and I was very pleased that so many of my colleagues in this parliament were also there.