Nicolle Flint seemed to be trying for a Julia Gillard moment yesterday when she attacked Anthony Albanese.
“I say to the leader of the opposition: I will not be lectured by you. I will not be lectured by your side of politics about the treatment of women in this place.”
Ms Flint, after saying that “the safety of women in this place should be above politics,” went on to get very political:
“What I say to the Labor party today is that they may not have held the spray can to vandalise my office with sexist slurs and they may not have held the camera pointed at me by the stalker or called me evil in GetUp’s phone calls, but they did create the environment in which hate could flourish.”
Oh come on, Nicolle.
It was Morrison who reportedly urged your party to capitalise on community fears about Muslim integration as a political strategy.
It was Abbott who stood in front of signs saying Ditch the Witch and Juliar and Bob Browne’s bitch.
It is Peter Dutton who spends every waking moment demonising refugees.
It is your government who has labelled welfare recipients “leaners”.
You have deliberately, for your own political advantage, stoked fear, division, and disinformation.
Where were you when SA Senator Lucy Gichuhi, and many of your female colleagues, were bullied and intimidated during the leadership spill? Where was your support for Julia Banks?
Senator Gichuhi said “I had senators and ministers in tears, that’s how bad it was. One of my colleagues was in tears the whole day.”
Linda Reynolds said “I just hope … whatever happens tomorrow that the behaviours that we have seen and the bullying and intimidation that I do not recognise as Liberal in any shape, way or form be brought to account.”
Morrison’s response?
“The events of a couple of weeks ago, I have described as a Muppet Show and the curtain comes down on that and Australians expect us to get on with our jobs.”
Move along, folks, nothing to see here.
When the allegations against Christian Porter surfaced, Sarah Henderson tried to raise again the allegations against Bill Shorten.
As was quickly pointed out, the police DID investigate those allegations unlike in the Porter case.
And if there was any doubt that Nicolle’s contribution was absolutely political, it was blown away today at #Scottyfrommarketing’s press conference about the COVID situation in PNG where he magnanimously took one question about another topic.
Except it was a set-up as exposed by Paul Karp who tweeted:
“Oh wow PM staff indicated to Morrison to take a question from Chris Uhlmann – the only non PNG vaccination question – and it’s about Nicolle Flints speech on her experience of sexism. Now PM has to go, so none on govt handling of rape allegations.
The govt is determined to create a false equivalence between its fumbling the Brittany Higgins allegation, failure to investigate allegation against Porter (which he denies) and Flints complaints about GetUp.”
Limp lettuce leaf Uhlmann asked his Dorothy Dixxer and the PM responded:
“I think she’s incredibly brave. I know how brave she was because I was there with her as she endured one of the ugliest campaigns I’ve ever seen besieged against not just a woman but anyone in this country and her determination to stand up to that in the face of the most vitriolic of abuse, stalking and threats to her own public security was absolutely appalling and I just am amazed at the Labor Party and the unions and GetUp just standing by to let that happen.
They were aware. They saw it. They were happy to be advantaged by it and I think she’s called it out well and I think she’s an incredibly strong woman.”
Are we supposed to forget that a woman was (allegedly) raped in the office of a senior Minister and nothing was done about it? The multitudinous people who knew didn’t bother informing the Minister for Finance whose department was the investigating body? No-one told the Prime Minister?
I am certain that complaints of sexual harassment will emerge from Labor’s call for women to come forward. It remains to be seen how they will handle things but I have more confidence in Labor women working for change than in the Liberal Party handmaidens.
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