March 4 Justice anniversary: Annastacia Palaszczuk tells women to maintain the rage

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has referred to former prime minister Scott Morrison as “a tin ear in a lead balloon” at an International Women’s Day event.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has told hundreds of guests at a United Nations International Women’s Day event to “maintain their rage” ahead of the upcoming two-year anniversary of the March 4 Justice protests.

Ms Palaszczuk, attending the event on Friday alongside Attorney-General and Minister for Women Shannon Fentiman, told the crowd all women should join the fight against inequality.

In March 2021 thousands took to the streets in protests across the country – an event sparked by the then federal government’s response to rape allegations made by former staffer Brittany Higgins.

The trial of the man Ms Higgins accused of raping her was aborted due to juror misconduct. A retrial was abandoned over fears for Ms Higgins’ mental health.

The accused strenuously denied the charge, and any wrongdoing.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk addresses the crowd a the UN International Women’s Day Lunch at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Picture: Sarah Marshall/NCA NewsWire

“This week marks two years since Australian women showed the world what we’re made of,” Ms Palaszczuk told Friday’s event.

“A decade of escalating sexism brought women – and men – onto the streets in a way I will never forget.

“You’ll recall the then prime minister (Scott Morrison) said we should be grateful no one was shot.

“A tin ear in a lead balloon.”

Ms Palaszczuk – who was pictured at the March 4 Justice Brisbane event two years ago – echoed late Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam several times during her three-minute long speech.

“But I am here to tell you friends, in the words of another former prime minister and possibly one of the nation’s greatest leaders: maintain your rage,” she said.

“Throughout history, the benefits gained by the marginalised have not come because of the generosity of their oppressors.

“They have been hard-fought for and won.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with ministers Yvette D’Ath, Shannon Fentiman, Steven Miles, Cameron Dick and Di Farmer as the March 4 Justice rally arrives at Parliament House in Brisbane in 2021.

Referencing international events in Afghanistan and Iran, Ms Palaszczuk said “while life here is nowhere near the same, it is a cause we too should take up”.

“Because wherever women are denied basic human rights all women should join the fight,” she said.

“Cracking the code to equality means demanding it.

“Governments, especially one led by a woman, do what we can but we must summon and continue to summon the activism that drew us to the streets two years ago.”

In an exclusive interview to mark eight years in power, Ms Palaszczuk recently told The Courier-Mail of the countless times in her career she had been treated differently because she was a woman.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk addresses the UN Women Australia lunch at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Picture: Sarah Marshall/NCA NewsWire

PREMIER’S FULL SPEECH

This week marks two years since Australian women showed the world what we’re made of.

A decade of escalating sexism brought women – and men – on to the streets in a way I will never forget.

You’ll recall the then prime minister said we should be grateful no one was shot.

A tin ear in a lead balloon.

All that frustration and anger carried through to the subsequent federal election that changed the electoral landscape, perhaps forever.

But I am here to tell you friends, in the words of another former Prime Minister and possibly one of the nation’s greatest leaders: maintain your rage.

Throughout history, the benefits gained by the marginalised have not come because of the generosity of their oppressors.

They have been hard-fought for and won.

Internationally, at great risk and cost.

In Afghanistan, 35 women and girls were killed when their school was bombed last September.

This is 10 years after Taliban gunmen shot Malala Yousafzai for the crime of speaking up about the right of girls to be educated.

In 2021, the Afghan Women’s Affairs Ministry was replaced with the Ministry of the Propagation of Virtue.

It instantly orders women to cover their faces in public, halted the issuing of drivers’ licences to women, and ruled they could only use public transport if accompanied by a man and if they sit behind a curtained-off section of the bus, banned women from public parks, instructed women employed in the Finance Ministry to send males to replace them.

For their own safety, their protests, including the basic human right of allowing girls to go to school, can only be seen using the anonymity of social media.

In Iran, decades of resentment and repression exploded last September after the arrest and death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Mahsa was killed for displaying a few strands of hair outside her hijab.

Despite living under one of the most repressive regimes on the planet, thousands of women burned their hijabs.

The chant of “Women Life Freedom” continues to defy authorities there and is now being echoed in Afghanistan.

Although life here is nowhere near the same, it is a cause we too should take up because wherever women are denied basic human rights, all women should join the fight.

I am supposed to use these brief minutes addressing today’s theme: cracking the code.

In it, I could tell you of the free TAFE programs we offer women and unpaid carers to get back into the workforce, the $20,000 we give employers to employ disadvantaged workers, or the 34,000 women who received government assistance to get back into the workforce, or the women who make up more than 50 per cent of government boards and senior roles, including the Director-General of my own Department of Premier and Cabinet.

I could even highlight to you that, in Queensland, the highest offices of Governor, Premier, Chief Justice and Police Commissioner are, for the first time ever, all women.

But, I imagine none of that matters much to a single mother trying to raise her children on the wrong side of advantage.

Or to those in Afghanistan and Iran.

No. Cracking the Code to Equality means demanding it.

There can be no equality until all women are equal and free.

Governments, especially one led by a woman, do what we can but we must summon and continue to summon the activism that drew us to the streets two years ago.

As Maya Angelou says: first gain the strength to stand up for yourself, then use it to stand up for others.

For First Nations peoples

For victims of domestic and family violence.

for the underpaid and overworked.

For people with disabilities.

For carers.

For the aged.

For a Voice.

For Afghanistan.

For Iran,

Women, Life, Freedom.

Maintain your rage.