Rallying for justice and women’s safety

A WOMEN’S March 4 Justice was held on Monday in Alfred Deakin Place, attracting hundreds of protesters demanding safety, equality, justice, and an end to gendered violence.

Ballarat Trades Hall president Cassia Drever-Smith was grateful to all attendees – women, men, and non-binary people – for taking a stand against sexism, misogyny, violence, and inequality.

“We’ve all been horrified by the allegations coming out of Canberra… but every day, women are experiencing violence and sexism at work, at home and in our communities. The time has come for us to bring this to an end,” she said.

“In times of crisis, we look to our leaders to guide us. This crisis has been ignored for far, far too long. Those who have been elected to govern us have looked the other way too many times.

“The parliaments we expect to make laws that keep us safe, and uphold equality as a fundamental right of all people, are failing. Our elected Australian government is failing us.”

Ms Drever-Smith said the Women’s March had prepared a “list of demands” for the government; a pathway towards justice.

“Demands include independent investigations into all cases of gendered violence in parliament, MP codes of conduct that require mandatory sexual harassment training for all parliamentarians and their staff, and the enactment of a Federal Gender Equality Act to promote equality and respect in Australia.

“Also, the lifting of public funding for gendered violence prevention to the world’s best-practice standards of nine to 12 per cent of response expenditure, and for all Australian parliaments to be gender-equal by 2030.

“We’re angry because our mothers and grandmothers were fighting this same fight 50 years ago. The Australian Government is not listening. I call for the members of the cross-bench in Canberra to place a vote of no confidence in the Morrison Government,” Ms Drever-Smith said.

Wadawurrung woman Macaylah Johnson opened the rally, exploring tradition.

“You and I share traditions… however, unfortunately, not all traditions we share are good ones,” she said.

“For when men are oppressed, it becomes a tragedy, but when women and people of other genders are oppressed, it is a tradition; a tradition we no longer accept, and that is why we are here to say ‘enough.’

“Enough with those crappy traditions that don’t make the world a better place…that don’t make our souls happy.”