Strip Bettina Arndt of OAM, says Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy

Jill Hennessy wants men’s rights activist Bettina Arndt stripped of her Order of Australia arguing the award is ‘an insult to abuse victims’.

Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy is attempting to have men’s rights activist Bettina Arndt stripped of her Order of Australia, saying the award “is an insult to victims of sexual abuse”.

Ms Arndt received the honour on Australia Day for her service to the community as a social commentator and to gender equality through her advocacy for men’s rights.

On Tuesday Ms Hennessy wrote to Governor-General David Hurley, urging him to cancel Ms Arndt’s award.

\Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy. Picture: Mark Stewart

“Taking into account Ms Arndt’s well-documented opinions, public commentary and media appearances – which include sympathising with a convicted paedophile and blaming and shaming victims – this award is an insult to victims of sexual abuse and those of us who work hard every day to prevent it,” the letter reads.

“Ms Arndt’s views and activities diminish the devastating experiences of victim-survivors of family and sexual violence, promote division and encourage victim-survivors from taking steps to ensure their survival and safety.”

Members of the Order of Australia are meant to be about recognising the best of our nation. The most dedicated, those...

Posted by Jill Hennessy MP on Wednesday, 29 January 2020

Ms Arndt responded to the letter on Wednesday night, calling Ms Hennessy’s letter “muckraking”.

“Shame on Victoria’s first law officer, Jill Hennessy, the Victorian Attorney-General for responding to muckraking from ideologues rather than seeking proper evidence,” she said.

Shame on Victoria's first law officer, Jill Hennessy, the Victorian Attorney General for responding to muckraking from ideologues rather than seeking proper evidence. The Age tells me Hennessy has written to the Governor General asking for my AM to be revoked.

— Bettina Arndt (@thebettinaarndt) January 29, 2020

Ms Arndt has received criticism over many of her views expressed in the public sphere like her “Fake Rape Crisis” tour which argues there is a “manufactured rape crisis” on Australian university campuses or her arguments in defence of convicted pedophiles George Pell and Nicolaas Bester.

On Wednesday night, Ms Arndt also defended her qualifications in a post on Facebook after an article by the New Matilda alleged she is not a doctor, never obtained a PhD and is not a clinical psychologist.

Ms Arndt said in her post that she was no longer a “practising psychologist” but completed a Master of Clinical Psychology degree at UNSW in 1973.

Ms Arndt said that it is common practice for “well-known people to use labels that include their professional background” even if they are not registered.

According to Ms Arndt there was no registration of psychologists in NSW in 1973.

It was a requirement from 1989 for a register of national practising psychologists to be kept — Ms Arndt said that she mostly worked in the media from that time so did not register as a psychologist.

The New Matilda article said that Ms Arndt falsely claimed that she worked as a clinical psychologist for 35 years.

Mr Arndt denied she made that claim, despite a 2009 edition of her book The Sex Diaries that read “she draws on her thirty-five years of experience as a sex therapist and psychologist to provide provocative analysis that challenges out basic assumptions about sex”.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has announced it is "looking closely" at allegations detailed in the New Matilda article.

“It is an offence under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (National Law) to hold yourself out to be registered when you are not," the agency said in a statement.

"Third parties, such as news organisations, also have an obligation under the National Law to not knowingly hold someone out to be registered when they are not.”