Clare O’Neil MP gives her own take on who should be our Minister for Women. Basically, a woman.
In politics, we deal with genuinely serious matters every day.
But there are also times where – even as a Member of Parliament – politics seems completely ridiculous. Moments that spring to mind are Tony Abbott bringing back Knights and Dames. Or the time he ate a raw onion. Certainly, I had a chuckle (OK, a huge guffaw) when the Prime Minister appointed himself Minister for Women.
Surely, this was satire?
But the joke was on me – and you. This is a man who stood in front of signs calling our first female Prime Minister a bitch and a witch, who suggested women are not equally represented in national leadership roles because men are more suited to exercising power, who called abortion “the easy way out”. Now, he is our voice in Federal Cabinet.
Read more: “I gave Tony Abbott the benefit of the doubt on women. I was wrong.”
In truth, any man appointing himself Minister for Women is absurd regardless of their track record on women’s issues. Men have been speaking for women for thousands of years – that’s part of the problem. To make the situation even worse, when Tony Abbott named himself Minister for Woman, he determined that just one woman would sit in his 19-person Cabinet. Presumably, we were meant to pop the champagne corks a year later when the number of women was doubled to two.
So what has the government done for Australian women under Tony Abbott’s watch? They have cut parental leave for half of all new mums, then called them ‘double dippers’ for using the paid parental leave scheme exactly as intended. Funding has been slashed to women’s legal centres and shelters. The government has tried to introduce massive fees for higher education, cut pensions, and ditched the low-income super contribution. All disproportionately affect women.
Top Comments
He shouldn't even be the Prime Minister let alone minister for women. He can't do the right thing for any Aussie unless you are one of his mates, he has embarrassed Australia on the international stage too many times yet nobody stands up to him and says pull your head in. He won't show proof of the fact he no longer holds a uk citizenship which to me means he still does therefor he is breaking the law but yet again he is allowed to get away with this as well. He is a complete joke. The problem we face though is the labor alternative is not much better
He treats the role of minister for women as one of minister for keeping women in their place.