I have no loyalty to Mark Latham and it seems I’m not alone.
I’m not even that enamoured of the Labor party since Paul Keating went off to do other things.

Illustration by John Spooner

A new report produced by the Council of Social Service of NSW (NCOSS) and the Women’s Rights Action Network Australia (WRANA) titled OUR Rights, OUR Voices was released today to coincide with International Human Rights day.
The report is part of a national project which documents the human rights experiences of women across Australia. It highlights a winding back of women’s structures in government at a time when violence and discrimination against women continue to escalate.

NCOSS deputy director Michelle Burrell is quoted as saying:

"[…]the report revealed a strong connection between violence, homelessness and poverty among women.

The failure to adequately prevent and respond to violence that occurs in institutional and other service settings is of particular concern to women with disabilities, indigenous women and women in prisons or juvenile justice systems.

Governments needed to provide more long-term support for women who were victims of violence. Until that is achieved, Australia will not comply with its International human rights obligations."

When I was at Uni I joined the Campus Feminist group called FLAPS (Feminists Laughing At Patriarchal Society).

Back then we thought that helping the sisterhood was as easy as meeting every week, sharing our experiences of being gorgeous and single, hearing about, or actually dating men who behaved with aggression and making a list of the serial offenders, and taping it to the back door of the last cubicle in the Ladies toilet in the Uni bar.

Our list included Men who we observed were:

1. Predatory
2. indulged in unwanted lewdness
3. or unwanted groping
4. were misogynists
5. or made sexist remarks
6. lied about being single
7. or lied about their sexual health

We thought of ourselves as direct action grrrls that could save the world.
How naive we were.