Today is the 56th International Human Rights day

December 10th, 2004

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.

Posted in Feminism, Social justice | 2 Comments »

This fits, does it come in my colour?

December 7th, 2004

In an interview on ABC AM today Sue Gordon was asked :

"How do you respond to comments, that the National Indigenous council (NIC) is not representative of Aboriginal Australia because its members aren’t elected by the Aboriginal community, but they’re appointed by the Howard Government?

Sue answered with:

"But we’re not supposed to be representative. We are there as individual Aboriginal people to give individual advice to the Minister.

So, having asked me that question, why haven’t you asked that question of the two Dodson brothers, Noel Pearson, Marcia Langton, Ross and a few others who are now wish…and Michael Long, who are wishing now to be an alternative advisory body to the Prime Minister?

They’re self-appointed, they’re not elected, they’re not representative. So, perhaps you should ask them the question. I don’t want to say any more on that."

Let’s not be derailed by the lack of homogeneity among indigenous people.
Please.

In the House of Representatives National Two Party Preferred result it was shown that 5,536,002 Australians eligible to vote in October 2004, voted for the Australian Labor Party.

5,536,002 Australians didn’t get exactly what they wanted.
Government was still formed.

Every Australian is free to send a letter, e-mail, message stick to the Prime Minister (or any elected official) and voice their opinion.

If we accept this then why can’t NIC accept the same from Professor Mick Dodson, Professor Marcia Langton, and me and you for that matter?

The most balanced view comes from the Australian Democrats’ Aden Ridgeway, the only Aborigine in Federal Parliament (only until June 2005).

"People should not feel threatened by different views. It is healthy to have debate, what is unhealthy is if nothing comes of it."

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More tinsel, and find me a Virgin.

December 5th, 2004

Prime Minister Howard, not usually a fan of flambuoyance, wants more Christmas decorations on display and a return of the virgin in the Sydney CBD.

In response to Clover Moore’s explanation of Sydney CBD’s December street display

"[…]the approach is consistent with a multicultural, multi-faith Australia."

John Howard uttered this:

"Christmas is not only a religious festival, but it’s also part of the history and the culture of this country. And the very idea that you win acceptance by denying your own identity is pathetic. It’s always been at the heart of what I regard as the harmful aspects of multicultural zeal.

And can I say that I was very disappointed some years ago when a lot of the department stores began…abandoned nativity scenes."

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Eight years later…

December 3rd, 2004

As I was watching Lateline on the ABC tonight I saw Pat Dodson who joined Michael Long (and Pat’s brother Mick) in a meeting with the Prime Minister.

It reminded me of a meeting between two of the four men in May of 1996.

Having lived in the Top End for some time, I often had the pleasure of meeting and listening to Pat (and to a lesser degree Mick) through the NT Trades & Labor Council.

Most memorable was the emotional foreword Pat gave at The Inaugural Lingiari Lecture, delivered by Sir William Deane, (who was at the time) Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia at the invitation of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in Darwin, on 22 August 1996 titled Some Signposts From Daguragu.

We had never before (or since) seen the Auditorium at the Northern Territory University (recently renamed Charles Darwin University) so overflowing with lovers of Lecture!

In a speech given at the National Press Club in Canberra on 28 November 1997, a few weeks before he was to finish his term as Chairperson of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation after six years at the helm, Pat Dodson had this to say about the Howard Government:

"In recent times we have seen that commitment from the parliament on reconciliation weaken and dim. It was a multi-party commitment to which the Government is no longer committed. The Government is no longer demonstrating the leadership required.
The Government chooses not to act on the pragmatic and practical recommendations of the Council’s social justice package, despite a major consultation process with the Australian community;

It chooses not to apologise to the Stolen Generations despite the example of State and Territory parliaments, major church groups, and many thousands of individual Australians.

And now it has chosen not to act on the heart-felt cries for justice and fair dealing in its response to the Wik decision."

Tonight, eight years later, Pat is still an imposing figure.
Still generous.
Still wise.
Still optimistic.

Shame we can’t say the same for John HoWARd.

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woman + government = mother. Is that the only answer?

November 29th, 2004

"From Tuesday 26 October 2004 when the Fourth Howard Ministry was sworn in, the functions of the Office of the Status of Women transferred to the Department of Family and Community Services. These changes will be reflected in templates and official documents as soon as possible. Please bear with us in the interim."

"[…] the Honourable Senator Kay Patterson MP’s title changed from the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women to the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Women’s Issues. Also, the functions of the Office of the Status of Women transferred to the Department of Family and Community Services, and the Office’s name is now Office for Women. These changes will be reflected in templates and official documents as soon as possible."

This is what you see when you go to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Office of the Status of Women website.

"The (Family and Community Services) Department will now also be responsible for gender issues and the Office of Status of Women will move to FaCS from The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C)"

This is what you find when you look for Office of the Status of Women data over at Family and Community Services.

I postulated this in an earlier post and am devastated to find that women have lost ‘status’ so soon!

I have to go now.
There are bras to burn!

Posted in Feminism, Social justice | No Comments »

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