Meeting with Mark Latham – Introduction

Prepared and Presented by Betty McLellan

I’ve prepared a brief introduction so that you’ll know right from the start where we’re coming from.

    We’ve requested this meeting with you, and our national organisation has raised the money to fly us here, out of a concern for the health and wellbeing of Australian women and children.

    The thing that prompted us to seek this meeting was that the ALP seems, at last, to have come out of its years of insecurity and paralysis and is finally showing some courage which, in turn, has given us hope that things could change.  It was particularly important to us to meet with you, Mark, as leader of the Party.  [And, given that you said last week on 60 Minutes (and I quote) “you need to have more face-to-face interaction in politics”, we’ll take it that you’re pleased to have the opportunity to meet with us, also!]

    In a nutshell, we want to talk with you today about the need for a change in the culture of our Australian society, a change in the attitude of governments and of men in general toward women.  To begin with, 52% of the population does not constitute a “special interest group”.  Women expect to be listened to and have our concerns taken seriously.

MY ROLE

My role is to introduce our group and our issues. 

Our group 

Our group, WomenAustralia, has members in every State and Territory and represents women from a wide variety of backgrounds.  We are women in Government organisations, NGOs, Universities, Business, as well as women who choose to be full-time Mums.  This puts us in touch with the mood of women right across the country.  And what we see at this time is that there’s a resurgence of concern and determination among women.  We’ve had the Howard government’s axing of the $2.7 million ad campaign to combat domestic violence;  the hideous murder of two prostitutes in Darwin;  the trafficking of women for sex (and this government’s denial that it even happens in Australia);  not to mention the whole Rugby League saga (and possibly other football codes as well) of so-called “male bonding” through the gang-rape of women.  Frankly, women have had enough.

Our issues

Regarding our issues, we want to say that our emphasis is not a liberal one.  Our concern is not primarily about women making it in a male world, not primarily about equal pay, adequate child care, paid maternity leave - though we support those initiatives. 

    Our concern is that Australian women still don’t have full citizenship.  Women still aren’t getting a fair go.  Three of the issues on the top of my mind at the moment are:

1.  Lack of opportunity for Women’s Participation in National and International decision-making;

2.  Poverty and it’s debilitating effect on women; and

3.  The degree to which men’s violence against women and children is tolerated and, even, condoned in this country.

In relation to violence, what we want of you and of all male leaders is that you SPEAK OUT against men’s violence at every opportunity.  Men listen to men.  You are right to point out that there’s a “crisis of masculinity”.  In many cases, it’s a crisis of violence - and it’s impact on women and children is horrendous.  The Howard government’s response to all this has been to cut back services put in place by successive governments since Gough Whitlam.  When John Howard came to power there were 60 national women's NGOs receiving funding.  He quickly reduced that to 4 national women's secretariats - all conservative (YWCA, National Council of Women, Business and Professional Women and a new rural women's coalition of mainly agricultural women (but not Indigenous women).  So, that’s the other thing we want from you Mark - an assurance that you will MAINTAIN and SUPPORT existing services for women, reinstate funding to those which continue to operate on ‘the smell of an oily rag’, and fund new ones.

    Over to Veronica....

 

The following are some thoughts on the three issues (which I will raise if I get a chance, as the discussion proceeds):

1.  Lack of opportunity for Women’s Participation in National and International decision-making.  In a democracy, women ought to have the right to free speech like anyone else but if women’s words don’t count for anything, if governments don’t seek women’s opinions or listen to women when we speak, the principle of free speech is a farce.

2.  Men’s violence against women and children.  The violence perpetrated by men against women and children, and condoned by the inaction of governments and community leaders is another thing that robs women of full citizenship.  Domestic violence (violence against women and children), rape of women and children -- these degrading acts don’t just affect those women who are the immediate victims.  All women living in a society where male violence against women and children is tolerated and accepted feel the impact of that horrendous situation.

3.  Poverty and its debilitating effect on women.  Poverty is another thing that robs women of full citizenship.  I was pleased to hear you say recently, Mark, that “the fight against poverty will be at the top of Labor’s agenda with the States”.  That’s great, and all we ask is that you remember, when developing your initiatives and policies, that all reputable studies into poverty in this country agree that two-thirds of all those living in poverty are WOMEN.

 

By way of summing up at the end of the session:

We want to thank you for your interest in the concerns we’ve raised.  To sum up, let me reiterate:  after eight years of the Howard government’s winding back of the meagre gains we made for women in the 70s and 80s - after watching the Howard government dismantle all our hard-won gains - women all over this country are ready for something better.

    What we’ve said to you today is:

. First - Women are watching you. 

. Second - We expect that, if you believe in the “family” as much as you say you do and if you deplore men’s violence against women and children in the home (which a belief in the family would imply), you will never lose an opportunity to SPEAK OUT against men’s violence.  We want you to make it clear that, under your leadership, the government of the day will say a loud “No” to domestic and family violence.

. Third - We also urge you to be careful not to continue in John Howard’s destructive footsteps.  DON’T DISMANTLE those few Women’s Services we’ve been able to save but, rather, see the need to MAINTAIN and SUPPORT existing Services and fund new ones.

. And finally - We expect that a Labor government will take the full citizenship rights of women seriously and be determined that women will be given a fair go.  If you take strong leadership in this yourself, we have no doubt that others will follow.