WOMEN MARCH FOR JUSTICE IN AUSTRALIA
Political committee formed in new sign he expects election
Thousands of people took to the streets across Australian cities on Monday calling for an end to violence against women.
Some wore face masks with the words: “Enough is Enough.” Others carried placards decrying misogyny, victim-blaming, abuse and rape. In Melbourne, a banner listed 900 women who have lost their lives at the hands of men since 2008.
The rallies follow a wave of allegations of sexual assault, abuse and misconduct in some of the highest offices of Australian politics. They come amid a growing global movement demanding officials do more to protect women and to hold perpetrators of harassment and assaults accountable.
Australia has tended to lag behind other Western countries on gender issues. It ranked 44th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report in 2020, sliding from previous ranks in 2018 and 2006.
In February, a former government staff member went public with an account of being raped in Australia’s Parliament building, sending shock waves through the country’s halls of power.
“We are all here today not because we want to be here, but because we have to be here,” the former staff member, Brittany Higgins, told a crowd gathered in front of Parliament on Monday.
Higgins alleges she was attacked by a colleague nearly two years ago after a night out drinking.
Gov. Gavin Newsom established a political committee Monday to begin raising money to defend his seat in a potential recall election, the strongest acknowledgment to date that he expects to be on the ballot this year.
The Democrat’s new fundraising arm could soon send a powerful message to his possible rivals: Under state rules, Newsom alone is allowed to raise money in unlimited amounts, while other candidates must adhere to contribution limits.
Newsom argued Monday that White supremacist and right-wing militia groups including the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters, are behind the effort. Democrats have cited Los Angeles Times reporting showing that one backer is involved with the Three Percenters and others have ties to the Proud Boys.
“We’re just concerned about violence moving into the future as we move farther and farther away from the January insurrection and we put down our guard. We must remain vigilant about these groups and how
serious they are,” Newsom said Monday night on MSNBC. “All you need is about a quarter of the people who supported Trump to just sign a petition and it appears they’ve done that.”
Organizers of the recall say they have collected over 2 million petition signatures to place the election on the ballot — about 1.5 million are needed for it to qualify, though hundreds of thousands must still be validated by election officials. They said 38 percent of petition signatures have come from independents and Democrats, but people are not required to list their party affiliation on the form.
Orrin Heatlie, a retired county sheriff’s sergeant who filed the recall petition,
said Newsom is engaging in a “smear campaign“about the recall organizers because he can’t defend his record.
“This recall is driven by the people of California. It encompasses the entire political spectrum,“he said, “all the way from the far liberal left to the alt-right.“
Newsom’s committee launched with an advertisement attacking the recall as a partisan effort. Democrats including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker lent their names to the effort.
Defeating the recall “will be one of the most important priorities for Democrats
this year,” Booker said in a statement.
Newsom received high praise for his aggressive approach to the coronavirus last spring, when he issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order.
But in more recent months, he has faced growing public frustration over health orders that shuttered schools and businesses and a massive unemployment benefits fraud scandal. He also took a public drubbing for attending a birthday party with friends and lobbyists at the exclusive French Laundry restaurant, while telling residents to stay home for safety.
Two Republicans have announced their candidacies: former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Rancho Santa Fe businessman John Cox, who Newsom easily defeated in 2018.
Another name being discussed in GOP circles is former President Donald Trump’s then-acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, who has not responded to requests for comment on a possible candidacy.
It’s not uncommon in California for residents to seek recalls, but they rarely get on the ballot — and even fewer succeed.