Parenting Tip: Don’t encourage your daughters to aspire to the highest office in the land. The dinosaurs still direct the public conversation.
by Noely Neate
June 14, 2013
Source: Yathink.com.au
Enough is enough. This grubby Howard Sattler business is the last straw! I may not be an academic like the everywhere ‘Feminist for Hire’ Eva Cox, or a so-called ‘Woman’s Authority’ like Mia Feedman. I am just a punter. A punter who is a mother, a daughter, a wife, a niece and a sister, and I am seriously pissed off.
To be perfectly frank, I am not sure I even really like Prime Minister Julia Gillard (note my use of her title, Australian media). I was totally feral with the changes to single parents – again media, it is ‘parents’ not just mums, as it was a ridiculous, heartless decision. The bright sparks who came up with that idiotic policy should take themselves outside and give themselves a good uppercut. Why the PM even agreed to that policy we will never know. We don’t live in a dictatorship and I am pretty sure the PM doesn’t get everything her own way. I will also hold her to account on this issue, but I will not wipe everything else this woman has done over ONE issue.
Bloody Hell, Howard took us to war on a lie and has received nowhere near the same condemnation. Having said that, this is the one point that the so-called feminist/women/whatever the hell David Koch has decided this week are the experts use to bash the PM with with regard to the big scary ‘Women’s Issues’.
I say get a grip! I am really sick of someone I used to really respect like Eva Cox being an apologist for Mr Abbott. Really? The MSM seem to love to clarify things for us in regard to Tony Abbott. I would love a buck for every time I have heard a commentator say, “Mr Abbott has changed his position on…”. Ya Think?
- Yeah, let’s just forget him standing in front of Ditch the Witch signs, not once but twice.
- Let’s forget 2010, “Are you suggesting to me that when it comes from Julia, ‘No’ doesn’t mean ‘No’.”
- Let’s forget another pearler from 2010, “What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it’s going to go up in price, and their own power bills when they switch the iron…”.
- God forbid we forget my personal favourite from 2004, “abortion is the easy way out”…
I could go on all day with instances of Mr Abbott’s serious ‘form’ when it comes to women’s issues, but just look at Mr Abbott trying to stop RU486, enuff said.
It is most likely true to a certain degree that the Prime Minister’s address to the Women for Gillard event was a manoeuvre to gain more support amongst women. Hello, she is a politician. It was actually a good speech if you read it all, not just paid attention to the Blue Ties and Abortion lines the media flogged relentlessly. Maternity allowances, federal funding for childcare, hell, even references to women being able to work in farms and factories in the 1940’s was mentioned, all ignored. Obviously “pulling the gender card, how dare she” was the theme of the day.
From Alan Jones to Tony Abbott, I do not think there has been a female in this country that has been reviled in the media as much as Julia Gillard. I am sure in the future there will be many a thesis done on this very subject and a whole new generation of political talking heads will be talking about the “shameful depth of Australian politics back in the day…” Or proudly claiming “Haven’t we come so far now since those shameful sexist days when we as a nation could not respect a woman in power”?
Even with the latest #MenuGate fiasco, everyone is more interested in whether Brough saw it or not. I don’t really care. I find it very difficult to believe Joe Richards would put that much effort into his so-called joke menu and would not have bragged about it to his LNP mates. The whole explanation just defies belief and is way too convenient. My pet peeve in this whole debacle is the glee in which media reported Mr Richards ‘statement’, conveniently arriving to them via Mr Abbott’s office, BUT not one that I saw (and if you did and I missed it, accept my apology now) took issue with the following sentence where he apologises to Mr Brough:
“As you know no one at the dinner was privy to such a menu, and it is so unfortunate that an in-house joke between myself and my son has caused you great problems and embarrassment.”
Yep, Mr Brough got an apology for being embarrassed. WTF! Our Prime Minister has been publicly ridiculed in an utterly vile manner by this man (if he is indeed actually solely responsible) and there is no apology to the VICTIM of the sexual denigration? No-one in the media thinks that should be raised? We would all be OK for our mothers, daughters, sisters or aunts to be referred to in this manner?
Ms Gillard has copped flack for everything, even her choice of glasses, a haircut, tripping in heels in India. You name it and it has all been acceptable for some reason. It almost feels that Mr Abbott and his Ministers, since the day a Hung Parliament was announced, have tried to lower the position of Prime Minister and a complicit media has been their accomplice. Seriously, he didn’t get the job he felt entitled to so if he can’t have it no-one can? We won’t worry about inflammatory language, we won’t worry that if the PM raises her voice it is not ‘strong’ it is ‘shrill’, if someone needs to be ‘explained’ it is ‘defending’ and on we go. Journalists make a living from words. They fully comprehend ‘connotation’ and they have used it well in the past few years. Well played Australian media, you must be so proud. Job well done :(
Even the ABC, which should be above petty tabloid reporting, can’t bring itself to say Prime Minister Gillard or even toss in a little “PM”, yet is happy to give “Opposition Leader Tony Abbott” his title, and of course no report on Kevin Rudd is complete without the ‘Former Prime Minister’ moniker. As I have stated in the past Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott DO NOT deserve Equal Billing!, nor do they deserve equal respect and air time. One is PRIME MINISTER, the other is NOT! As we are not in an election, they do not deserve equal coverage either – this false balance is a bloody joke. Look at the title in the video on that link – do you really think that anywhere else in the world at this time would give preference to the lower entity instead of the leader of the country?
Seriously, we have been groomed to accept that the office of Prime Minister whilst held by Julia Gillard does not deserve any respect, and that as a woman she does not deserve any respect, and that’s because it is politics, so stiff bikkies just cop it. I say NO! The past few years Mr Abbott and the Australian media have set a seriously low tone in political debate. They have encouraged sexist language and attitudes, and worse, when it has been called out by PM Gillard in her misogyny speech she is slapped down.
Basically the moral of the story here to young women of Australia is ‘Don’t run for Parliament’ because you will be subjected to double standards, pilloried from pillar to post and cannot fight back because you will be accused of playing a Gender Card. Be a good girl and know your place ok?
I am not a big fan of Prime Minister Gillard. I never cared too much apart from the initial tingle that we finally had a female PM. But the denigrating treatment of our first female Prime Minister has pushed me over the edge.
I have found the inner feminist in me that I really didn’t feel I needed in this day and age. I will back her to the hilt now just to push back at the bloody media, Tony Abbott’s boys club and the ignorant bloody fellow Australians who have bought into this behaviour. Sorry Mr Abbott, your plan actually backfired for me and a few of my friends.
Is this really the Australia we want to live in? Is this really what we want for our daughters? This sexist and bullying behaviour should not be acceptable. We would not accept it for a family member we loved or cared about so we should not tolerate it for our Prime Minister, regardless of your politics. I may only be a punter, not an expert, not a journalist, not a Canberra Insider or the like – I really don’t give a stuff about your policy nuances or perpetual political polling – BUT I am a decent human being and I say enough is enough!
Wow! Politics and the Army really knocking it out of the park when it comes to sexism this week. Keep it classy Australia!
— Brendan Maclean (@macleanbrendan) June 13, 2013
If there is a female in your life you should care about this. Fellow Australians, take a good hard look at yourselves, the sexism and denigration of women in our culture, politics, sport, defence forces, you name it, should not be tolerated in any way shape or form regardless of your political persuasion. As they say in football, the culture of a club starts at the top and the standard is set by the leaders in the club. So you don’t have to like Ms Gillard, you don’t have to like the Labor Party, but you should respect the office and you should respect another human being and stand against sexism and bullying in our society.
Sadly & with great shame as an Australian
Noely (@YaThinkN)
PS: I know she will never get this message, but, “Ms Gillard, fight back, call it as it is, tell Mr Rudd to pull his head in. Next time you are asked a pathetic question like Sattler’s, stand up, tell him to shove his disgraceful question up his Khyber and walk out! Fight back.”
While I am giving unwarranted advice LOL! “Mr Garrett, grow a pair, go back to the schools in Queensland and put that trumped up self-important little Premier Newman back in his place, stop letting them push you around.”
IMPORTANT: Top graphic from “Exposing Tony Abbott & The LNP – Memes & Stuff” is extremely apt – if I have not given credit to the correct creator please let me know so I can rectify that and give credit where credit is due :)
For a trip down memory lane with Mr Abbott’s form over the years, visit “Tony Abbott’s Infamous Quotes”
Great article and well written! I wish the PM could read this.
Thanks Noely. Well said. I can respect anyone having a different political view than mine, but this stuff rises above party politics. These views being encouraged by Abbott and Co, by their example are eating away at the basic decency of Australian society.
What frightens me the most is if they get power Federally as well as Statewise with a big majority, how far would they take this country backwards for women, homosexuals, the poor and even more importantly for the environment?
Absolutely awesome. You have put all of my thoughts into words. I saw an article the other day to do with the menu affair, which apart from being full of the usual tripe and excuses for the Libs, called our PM – Julia. This in itself is a blatant show of disrespect for the office of the PM in this country, and those journalists are well aware of that fact. like you I have never considered myself that much of a feminist, had never even thought about it really, I thought the fact that we had a female PM was a sign that Australia was a progressive country…..how wrong was I? The more I see of PM GIllard, the more I see the way she conducts herself with dignity, poise and courage under fire, the more my admiration grows. This week however has been a real turning point for me, I feel for this woman, how much more can she take, she has already taken more than I, or most women could ever take. I am no longer going to stand by and make her do all of the heavy lifting alone. This disgraceful, sexist, slanderous treatment of our first female PM has most certainly unleashed my inner feminist and I will fight this fight along side her.
Hi Deb my thoughts exactly. Most particularly I was shocked at the lack of an apology to the Prime Minister, as if Brough’s feelings were important, except perhaps for his embarrassment at getting caught out. Join the ALP, email your local member, talk to people.
Thanks Jenny B. I have a friend who is a member of Labor so I may just do that. My local member is a geriatric old LNP member so that’s like banging your head up against a brick wall, I have never had any decent response from him. And I am posting articles and opinions all over fb. This is not the way I want young women to be treated in the future.
What you have said in this piece is so true if my daughters were treated this way I would want to knock the cowards that say these disgraceful and disrespectful things about our female population.
The future of our society will pay for the way we have treated our Prime Minister and the real sadness is that the people doing and saying these things proclaim they are respectful religious people.
Have commented elsewhere on this outstanding article from Noely but I shall add some more. :)). Its cry from the heart has spoken for many of us. These deplorable troglodytes of the Liberal & National Parties, as well as the loathsome multi-millionaire shock jocks who claim to speak for the “strugglers” (crap) plus the commentariat of the MSM, desperately need to be dragged kicking & screaming into the 21st century.
In an effort to get this wonderful article somewhere our PM Julia Gillard may have access to it, I have tweeted it to both Wayne Swan & Craig Emerson, both of whom I am proud to say are followers of mine. Hopefully, they will see it. Fingers crossed.
Great writing. I will post this far and wide. Australia has just held up the mirror to itself and found out how ugly, vile and rotten we really are at our core. This needs to change
I heard the ugly Sattler/Gillard exchange this morning on the BBC world news. Squirm-making to think that Les Patterson is still putting us on the world stage.
GetUp has a campaign called Play the Gender Card
http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/womens-rights/gender-card/play-the-gender-card?t=dXNlcmlkPTQ3MTAzLGVtYWlsaWQ9MTkzNw==
They are encouraging us all to “play the Gender Card” in support of our PM.
I have absolutely no problem saying the I like and respect Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
But try getting that into the MSM.
Up here in Queensland Stefan has been the most high profile hairdresser here for 45 years , now a multi, multi millionaire that all LNP members want to associate with …. can’t recall anyone asking him on radio or tv if he is/was gay.
“Slick” Abbott is just a leader of cowards.
Yeah. I’ve TOTALLY switched the feminist back on in me too. One thing the internet has shown us, with a laser, is just how ugly some of the stuff men say about us really is (from mussels to red boxes to witches etc). I’m not a rusted on party political tragic and would be happy to see a conservative government in power, but not at the next election. I say Vote for Julia, thereby deposing Tony and ultimately settling us all down with a gracious Malcolm government in 2016. This way we get NBN fully implemented, NDIS and Gonski properly up and running. And by then the MSM will be pretty much dead along with its spooky chums the old man whitey shock-jocks.
Not so sure about a “gracious Malcolm” newtown. Remember UteGate & Godwin Grech, an act of political bastardry, designed to besmirch &/or bring down PM Kevin Rudd when Malcolm Turnbull was LOTO?
Since Tony Abbott toppled him as LOTO, Malcolm has shown he is prepared to go along with whatever he is told to do to retain his spot in the shadow ministry. No, I’m afraid Malcolm is no longer the Liberal saviour he once may have been.
I sometimes refer to our PM as “Julia”, but out of the utmost respect and admiration. I think she is now calling calling out Bull****, our PM’s performance in Perth the other day was great, I thought “Go Julia,Go”, she has been far too nice and honourable. Can you imagine Whitlam, Hawke or Keating copping what she has, No I think there would have been political corpses left on the floor of the chamber.
Hmmm this is very interesting. I note no reference to Leunig’s menu. So we now should all just go and vote for Julia because she is a woman who has been given a hard time? Personally, I value the office of PM and our democracy and our right to free speech and our right to have a say about anything we want to have a say about much much much more than I value people like Ms Gillard being protected from criticism in whatever form it comes for her failure to understand anything about running a country for ALL of the people who live in it.
Good luck with Tony Abbott then. He has been protected from any form of criticism for years & would not know how to handle it beyond using a right hook..
No one is saying anything about protecting PM (not Ms) Gillard from criticism. Constant overt sexist crap is what this is all about.
What about Leunig’s menu? Does it relate to this article?
Joy…Here’s a link to the cartoon that Michael Leunig posted in The Age. It contains “Main course: Tony’s soft sausage, well devilled and served in a bed of mixed wilted roots with scortched Pyne nuts and warm jus Hockey,” and “Cream puff ‘Abbott’ with small cold shrivelled balls of smashed pale jelly.” This cartoon has nothing to do with the ALP and nothing to do with the PM, drawing a long bow to compare the two. And yes you are right sexism as well as racism step well over the boundaries of free speech. http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/neil-mitchell-blog/leunigs-tony-abbott-cartoon-has-he-crossed-the-line/20130614-2o8dl.html
Thanks Deb. We aren’t in The Age’s circulation area & not having bought the SMH for years would not have seen the Leunig cartoon. He always pushed the limits but I do think the amount of umbrage about this is way more than was shown by some males about the cruder menu description about our PM. I’m sure Abbott has done worse himself.
Funny how many of those expressing high dudgeon about such “shocking” things tend to be called Bob.
Joanne as the old saying goes you can please some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time BUT you can’t please all the people all the time. I find it hard to understand what is wrong with the way the country has been run, we are the envy of the entire world. Now if you find that a problem might I suggest you visit Greece, Spain or Portugal & ask their opinion on how they think of how Australia has been governed since 2008.