Thousands march for justice
Brittany Higgins has demanded urgent action from Australia’s leaders on violence against women, accusing senior politicians of dodging accountability.
The former Liberal staffer, who alleges she was raped by a colleague in a ministerial office in 2019, made a rousing speech to thousands of people at the Canberra March4Justice yesterday.
‘‘We fundamentally recognise the system is broken, the glass ceiling is still in place and there are significant failings in the power structures within our institutions,’’ Higgins said.
‘‘We are here because it is unfathomable that we are still having to fight this same stale, tired fight.’’
Higgins quit her job as a media adviser and went public in a hope she could protect other women from traumatic incidents at work.
‘‘We’ve all learned over the past few weeks just how common gendered violence is in this country,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s time our leaders on both sides of politics stop avoiding the public and side-stepping accountability. It’s time we actually address the problem.’’
She spent recent weeks watching the news around her play out from a spare bedroom in her father’s Gold Coast apartment.
‘‘I watched as the prime minister of Australia publicly apologised to me through the media, while privately his media team actively undermined and discredited my loved ones,’’ she said.
Higgins was waking to new information about the alleged assault which has haunted her.
‘‘I watched as people hid behind throwaway phrases like due process and presumption of innocence while failing to acknowledge how the justice system is notoriously stacked against victims of sexual crime.’’
Organisers of the rallies, which are expected to see 100,000 people march in cities across the country, rejected the prime minister’s officer to meet behind closed doors.
Morrison refused to attend the protest, but about 15 coalition MPs and senators went outside to hear the speeches.
A strong contingent of Labor politicians including leader Anthony Albanese and the senior
‘‘We are here because it is unfathomable that we are still having to fight this same stale, tired fight.’’ Brittany Higgins
leadership attended the demonstration, along with the Greens and independents.
Australian of the Year Grace
Tame addressed the Hobart rally about her advocacy for other victims of sexual assault.
‘‘Evil thrives in silence.
Behaviour unspoken, behaviour ignored, is behaviour endorsed,’’ she said.
Women’s March4Justice founder Janine Hendry said the prime minister’s offer of a meeting with just three women was not enough.
‘‘We have already come to the front door, now it’s up to the government to cross the threshold and come to us,’’ she said.
The rallies are being held across Australia to protest the unacceptable treatment of women in the workplace and the community and the right of women to feel safe.
Minister for Women Marise Payne was on duty in the Senate during the demonstration and also offered to meet up to four women inside parliament.