Opinion: Frecklington’s attack hits the wrong Target

Women in politics put up with enough without subjecting each other to petty and juvenile taunts, writes Jill Poulsen.

HAVE you ever taken a mate to a barbecue and watched helplessly while they spout off about something so completely out of touch that your breath catches while awkwardly watching everyone else’s face?

That’s how I felt after reading Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington’s comments on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in The Sunday Mail.

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In an attempt to highlight the differences between her and Ms Palaszczuk, she resorted to attacking her over the clothes she wears and making the not-so-subtle point that the Premier is childless.

Deb Frecklington. Pic Mark Cranitch.

Mrs Frecklington shops at Target and Cue, while the Premier is spending up big at Scanlan Theodore, she said.

“I can have a tough day, but then I’ll get a call from one of my kids and you’ve got to deal with whatever’s going on in their lives,” Mrs Frecklington said.

“She (the Premier), on the other hand, has had a complete makeover – all the makeup, the designer labels, it’s too much, when there are bigger issues to focus on.”

And if the cattiness wasn’t obvious to her at the time, when Liberal Premier Gladys Berejiklian liked a tweet from Federal Labor MP Terri Butler saying: “Attacking her for not being a Mum is a low act & the LNP should know better” it’s probably safe to say her cheeks would have been a nice shade of Target red.

Here I was thinking one of the best things about being an adult was saying goodbye to the fear that you’re going to get picked on for wearing the wrong type of outfit at the Blue light Disco. Obviously not.

Responding to backlash, Mrs Frecklington said on Sunday that she wasn’t intentionally going after Ms Palaszczuk for not being a mother she was just pointing out her real-world experience and that her kids kept her grounded.

“I won’t stand by and allow the Labor Party to try and twist the love I have for my kids for some warped political gain,” she said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: Paul Beutel.

Well, of course, Labor was jumping for joy at another Christmas present so soon. From Federal Opposition Anthony Albanese to just about every Qld Labor MP, everyone had a crack.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad told her Twitter followers: “The last time I saw this level of meanness was actually in the movie Mean Girls.”

Which to be fair could be a bit disingenuous, because that film came out in 2004 and we’ve seen countless politicians treated like garbage since then.

Political gains, it doesn’t change the fact that the publicly made comments are beyond cringe-worthy, they’re downright embarrassing.

Not just for her personally, but for Queenslanders, politicians, and women in general.

We expect more than an Opposition Leader, male or female, who thinks it’s OK for a woman to be defined by how many children she does or doesn’t have. Or what clothes she does or doesn’t wear.

The level of vitriol levelled at women in the public eye, usually online, is a genuine problem in our society. We put up with enough without turning on each other.

No other state has had a female premier and female Opposition leader at the same time, ever.

It’s something we can all be proud of, but this kind of pettiness just plays into a sexist stereotype that you don’t expect from an accomplished person such as our Opposition Leader.

On International Women’s Day this year, Mrs Frecklington agreed that Australia needed more women to enter politics.

“I would encourage anyone, of any gender, into politics,” she said.

“You can whinge from the sidelines for so long, or you can jump in and do something about it.”

She spoke beautifully when she told The Courier-Mail what message she wanted to share with young Queensland women.

“Be fierce and strong, but also kind and compassionate,” she said. “I tell my daughters that they can do anything and I mean it. They can do anything, and so can you.”

Thankfully, she didn’t mention anything about wearing too much makeup.