National Movement against Sexual Assault Persists in Australia

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses workplace culture and support for women in the workplace (Wikimedia Commons)

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed sexual misconduct and workplace culture in a media conference on March 22, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC News). In the five weeks since former staffer Brittany Higgins went public with allegations of rape inside the Parliament House, more incidents and similar claims have emerged.

The day after Higgins’ public allegation, Morrison announced a series of inquiries into the inadequacy of support measures for women in Parliament, as well as the broader culture and ways to improve the workplace for women. Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins has also been appointed to head the independent, cross-party review into Parliament’s workplace culture. However, critics have called the effort too slow and ineffective.

Tens of thousands of people have attended marches across Australia, protesting the sexual abuse and harassment of women in the country. The protest rallies, known as the March 4 Justice, first formed on March 15 across 40 cities and towns in Australia, including the major cities of Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne. In addition to requests for greater accountability over sexist behaviors in Parliament, protesters also carried a long banner listing the names of women killed in acts of gender-based violence in the past decade. The allegations sparked a time of national reckoning and reflection.

As the protesters’ demands for lawmakers to join and meet the rallies were declined, tensions were exacerbated when Morrison said it was a “triumph of democracy” that protesters were not “met with bullets.”

Natasha Stott Despoja, a former senator who was appointed to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women last year, said she was "quite stunned" when she heard the Prime Minister's remark: "It was a poor choice of words but also, any references to such violence, whether the Treasurer says that it was well-intended or not, was just completely inappropriate and saddening." 

Morrison addressed critiques to his comment the next day by bringing up the “issues unfolding in Myanmar” that have been “very much foremost on [his] mind” to justify his unpopular comparison.

The day before the latest press conference, Channel Ten and the Australian reportedly obtained videos and images of sexual encounters filmed inside Parliament House. Four Coalition staff members were reportedly involved, with one identified and fired immediately in the aftermath.

Morrison described the reports as “disgusting and sickening” and said, “The actions of these individuals show a staggering disrespect for the people who work in Parliament, and for the ideals the Parliament is supposed to represent.” Minister for Women Marise Payne further expressed that this case reinforced the need for the members and senators in the Parliament to change the work culture through immediate action.

Julie Bishop, a former foreign minister and Liberal Party deputy leader, has argued that the environment in Canberra often forces women into silence. Many women lawmakers have regularly described a culture of gender bias and intimidation in Parliament and have reported that slurs are specifically targeted at them and not at their male colleagues.