‘Misogyny at its finest’: domestic violence protest leader blasts Anthony Albanese
Albanese fended off accusations over his treatment of the woman who organised an anti-domestic violence rally as national cabinet focuses on female killings.
Anthony Albanese has fended off accusations he displayed “misogyny at its finest” through his treatment of the woman who organised a rally against gendered violence, ahead of a national cabinet meeting that will focus on combating a spate of female killings through a crackdown on online content accessed by teenage boys.
The Prime Minister is expected to come under pressure from state premiers at Wednesday’s meeting to increase commonwealth funding for domestic violence services, while discussions over states strengthening bail and parole laws for misogynist offenders are also likely.
The emergency meeting of premiers and chief ministers comes as Australian Institute of Criminology analysis of coronial records shows incidents of intimate partner violence resulting in the death of a woman increased by nearly 30 per cent from 2021-22 to 2022-23.
And exclusive data by the National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety revealed that of a survey of more than 3000 people, one in four had reported engaging in workplace sexual harassment, with most perpetrators being male.
The nationwide survey found nearly one in four men had engaged in technology-facilitated sexual harassment and that more than 30 per cent of them had done so because they wanted to “frighten” their victim.
As the number of women killed in incidents of gender violence in Australia this year reaches at least 27, the Prime Minister’s vow to address the issue was undermined as he was accused of being disrespectful at a rally in Canberra on Sunday.
Sarah Williams, founder of advocacy group What Were You Wearing, said Mr Albanese had “abused his power” by getting up to address the rally when she did not want him to, and adding he had originally been told by organisers they would rather he not speak.
Video footage shown on the ABC of the event shows a frustrated Mr Albanese shrugging and saying, “Do you want me to speak or not? I’m the Prime Minister,” before he took the microphone.
Ms Williams said the claim he had been told not to speak was a “flat-out lie”.
“(Mr Albanese) demonstrated … what entitlement looks like. A man with power trying to diminish a vulnerable young woman,” she said in a statement.
“Just because you are the Prime Minister of the country does not mean you get to use your title to scare a young woman into letting you speak.”
In a separate post Ms Williams declared “misogyny at its finest. By the Prime Minister of our country though? I never would have expected”.
Mr Albanese said he wished Ms William well, applauding her for organising the rally, and that he understood the emotion and frustration of women across the country.
“Good on Sarah for organising the rally yesterday. This is an issue that is a national scourge and a national crisis. I was happy to just attend as a participant or happy to speak, either way,” he told Sunrise.
But Mr Albanese refused to deny a key claim by Ms Williams, that he told her: “I’m the Prime Minister, I run this country.”
The national cabinet meeting will be addressed by Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin, and will consider countering access to violent and misogynistic content online, as well as age-inappropriate material on social media.
The meeting will also consider how states and the commonwealth can do more to share information about high-risk perpetrators.
In the wake of the rallies against gendered violence, which have taken place in most major cities, premiers declared their commitment to stopping women being killed in incidents of domestic or gendered violence.
Announcing a 20 per cent increase in funding for domestic and sexual violence services over the next 12 months, Queensland Premier Steven Miles asked the commonwealth to make a matching $36m contribution.
Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath also called for more federal housing funding to deliver more long-term accommodation for women fleeing domestic violence.
Ms Cronin said it was imperative national cabinet came up with “a road map” to address the issue of violence against women in the short term, and decide which elements of the national plan to reduce violence against women and children “need to be accelerated”.
She also backed calls for national cabinet to discuss classifying the increase in gendered violence as an emergency.
“It’s very clear that the calls for it to be called an emergency … where it comes from is the sense from the community that this needs urgent government attention,” she told The Australian.
“They want to see government regarding whether or not calling a national emergency gives the powers that government need is a national cabinet decision. Because it’s about what are the levers that government needs to be able to take urgent action.”
As part of the national plan, the Albanese government has committed to ending violence against women and children “in a generation”, starting with a reduction of 25 per cent a year in the numbers of women being murdered.
Additional reporting: Lydia Lynch
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