Fair Agenda Blog
PRESS RELEASE
Women’s advocates and health professionals have spoken out against a parliamentary committee’s failure to support the urgent need for abortion decriminalisation in Queensland.
“To continue to deny women the legal right to make decisions about their own fertility and health is unfathomable, and unacceptable.” said Renee Carr, Executive Director of Fair Agenda.
“The only person in a position to properly understand the best reproductive health care decision for a woman in her multitude of relevant life circumstances is the woman herself.”
“The current laws are from the dark ages. Queensland women deserve for decriminalisation of their healthcare decisions to be a priority.” Ms Carr added.
Amanda Bradley from Children by Choice added: “These laws are fundamentally broken. They impact on women’s access to abortion services every single day.
“The situation is so absurd that we have women turning to us for financial assistance because current laws make it almost impossible to get the help they need at public hospitals.
“Almost half of the funds we've had to raise to help women in need cover their costs are for women who have already been subjected to sexual assault or domestic violence - that our parliament wants to subject them to this further trauma through the medical system is horrible."
“The overwhelming weight of evidence provided to the committee by medical professionals and expert bodies was to recommend the passing of this legislation. Those who drive policy on all other healthcare issues are clearly in support of decriminalisation. It should be passed.”
Michael Moore, CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia said: “This is a healthcare issue, and should be dealt with like any other health matter. To have the Government interfering in a woman’s right to make this or any other health care decision for herself is wildly inappropriate.”
“The notion of applying the same approach to this medical procedure as we did a hundred years ago is ludicrous and inappropriate.” he added.
Kath Kerr, Social Worker at Women’s Legal Service Queensland added: "For a number of women who have turned to Women’s Legal Service for help to escape their abusive partner, the current, outdated laws are making it even more difficult to access the services they desperately need, including pregnancy termination options."
In response to recent reports that the LNP may prevent its MPs from casting a conscience vote, Ms Carr added:
“The majority of Queenslanders want abortion decriminalised. If not even a single LNP member is willing or able to vote to end the criminalisation of women’s health care decisions -- it begs the question, how well is the LNP representing Queenslanders on this issue?”
Young mother Karla Wareham-Deane added: “As a Queenslander, a lawyer, a mother, and a woman, I’m horrified that we’re even debating this in 2017.”
Want to take action? As Queensland MPs sit down to consider the committee report, can you make sure they receive a flood of local constituent messages urging them to support decriminalisation? Click here to remind your MP women are the experts in their own lives - and that their healthcare decisions shouldn’t be criminalised.
If 2016 has shown us anything, it’s that we can’t take progress for granted.
That’s why it couldn’t be more important for communities like ours to keep building our power – not only to secure desperately needed advances; but also to make sure we can block the increasing attacks on progress we've previously made. And unfortunately our community’s ability to do that is constrained by our resources.
Can you chip in to make sure our community can step up the fight for fairness and equality in 2017?
This year our 35,000 strong campaigning community has proven time and again that when we come together we can shape the national agenda, and win campaigns that are life-changing for thousands of women.
Together, we’ve secured $100 million of additional federal funding for family violence services; blocked the January 1 cuts to paid parental leave that would have hurt 80,000 new parents, won election commitments from key parties, and started to make training to prevent sexual violence a priority for university residences.
We’ve put these issues in national headlines, secured national TV coverage, had our campaigns covered in more than a dozen news outlets, and influenced the Government and key Senators.
All of this has been possible with just a tiny team to support our community. We've built incredible power. But it’s not nearly enough. At the same time we've been driving this critical impact, funding limitations have left us unable to campaign on other important issues.
If 2016 has shown us anything, it’s how vital it is that we double our efforts and stay vigilant about fighting for what we believe in. And we need your help to make that possible. Can you chip in now to help raise the $2,000 needed to step up our community's impact in early 2017?
If you donate more than $25, we’ll send you this limited edition Fair Agenda postcard as a thank you for your support!
An investment in Fair Agenda – and a fair and equal future – is exactly the kind of present we all need this holiday season.
We already know that 2017 will bring a vote on the Government’s fourth attempt to cut paid parental leave, a vote on abortion decriminalisation in Queensland, and the chance to secure training to prevent sexual violence for more university students.
But our community won’t be able to keep winning change without your support. Can you help put fair on the agenda in 2017? https://fairagenda.nationbuilder.com/donate_2017
In hope and action,
Renee for Fair Agenda
The Labor Party have this morning re-affirmed their commitment to make changes in this area, and require judges to consider what should be done to protect vulnerable witnesses when family violence is alleged. But basic protections like this shouldn’t be contingent on which party is in government.
With this issue back in the headlines today, we have a critical opportunity to turn up the head on Government decision makers.
Can you take a few minutes to email Minister for Women Michaelia Cash and Attorney-General Brandis to urge them to change the Coalition’s policy?
Right now there are no protections in place to stop abusive ex-partners from cross-examining those they have abused in Family Court. For survivors like Eleanor, it means “I was forced to answer the questions of a man who had sexually assaulted and abused me for over a decade…. And that horrific experience was a major obstacle in my recovery from the trauma of my abuse.”
Last year Eleanor called on Fair Agenda members to stand with her, and community legal workers to call on our federal parliamentarians to make this change. More than 5,000 of us have answered that call so far. And in the lead up to the election we came together to flood the major parties with calls for change in this area. The pressure from Fair Agenda members and other community groups helped secure this pledge from the ALP.
We'll still need to see the detail of this proposal, and there are some concerns that judges will still have discretion to allow the practice - but this is a big step in the right direction.
Our campaign is working. That's why it’s critical we keep building the pressure around this issue.
Click here for tips on what to send Minister Cash and Attorney-General Brandis, or email them directly via: [email protected] and [email protected]
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The full letter from ALP leader Bill Shorten to Fair Agenda members is available here and below:
Dear Renee and the Fair Agenda team,
I’m aware that Fair Agenda and your supporters, alongside advocates and experts, have been campaigning to stop violent perpetrators cross-examining survivors of domestic violence. Thank you for your work. I want to let you know that we are listening to you.
We have listened to the Productivity Commission, to advocates, and to experts, and Labor is taking action.
Today, on White Ribbon day, Terri Butler and I affirmed a plan that we will enact under a Labor Government. Right now, survivors of domestic violence are too often made to endure cross-examination from their violent ex-partners. That must no longer happen.
As Prime Minister, I will require judges to consider what should be done to protect vulnerable witnesses when family violence is alleged. And I'll equip them with the power and the resources to say enough is enough - no one should have to be re-traumatised by having their violent ex cross-examine them in the witness box. Labor will commit more than $43 million over four years to make sure this practice ceases.
Your advocacy is very important, and your advocacy is still needed. Malcolm Turnbull’s government is presiding over massive cuts to legal services - with a 30% funding cliff coming up in July. And his party continues to ignore your advocacy, the experts in the field, and the Productivity Commission; they are not taking action to reform cross-examination. This should not be a partisan issue. Please continue to push for these important measures, so that we don’t have to wait until the next election to resolve this problem.
On behalf of Terri Butler, Mark Dreyfus, Tanya Plibersek and all of my Labor colleagues, thank you again for getting in touch with us about this important issue. Please keep up your good work.
Yours sincerely
Bill Shorten MP
Leader of the Opposition
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
*If you have been affected by sexual assault or domestic violence, you can access 24/7 counselling support at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).*
After more than a year of campaigning, we have the votes needed to stop the Government's planned cuts to paid parental leave in the new parliament!
38 Senate votes are needed to defeat any Government legislation in our Senate. Thanks to the election promises that Fair Agenda secured from the Nick Xenophon Team, Jacqui Lambie Network, The Australian Greens and Australian Labor Party there are now 39 Senators pledged to block the Government's plans to cut paid parental leave.
That means unless they break their promise - the Government's plan to cut parental leave won't be possible in this parliament.
For more than a year the Government has been trying to make cuts that would have dragged Australia's parental leave policy back in time; tearing precious time at home away from tens of thousands of working parents, and leaving workers like nurses, ambos, teachers and Woolies staff with access to just 18 weeks of paid leave (well below the 26 weeks recommended for health and welfare reasons).
But thanks to campaigning driven by thousands of Fair Agenda members and other community groups, the Government now won't be able to pass its planned cuts in this parliament.
It's a huge win for the tens of thousands of working parents who face having time at home with their newborn torn away - and it's only possible because of the efforts of thousands of Fair Agenda members like you.
It’s only possible thanks to the efforts of thousands of Fair Agenda members who have driven this campaign since Day 1. Members like Anna who launched the petition calling on other Fair Agenda members to stand with her in campaigning against the cuts… members like Trish, Kyla and Belinda who met with former Senator Glenn Lazarus and asked him to use his Senate vote to block the cuts… members like Heather and baby Luca who came to Parliament House and stood with Senator Lazarus and Senator Lambie as they committed the votes needed to block the legislation in the previous Parliament… and members like Sascha, Colleen, Cassie, Kate and baby Ella who met with election candidates and got them on the record on this issue.
Fair Agenda members have helped stop these cuts not once, not twice, but three times. It’s a testament to the power of our movement, and to our ability to drive change on the national stage.
Important campaigns like this are only possible thanks to the generous donations of Fair Agenda members. Can you chip in to help our community drive more change?
Today's win is a massive victory for our community. But unfortunately, as the attacks on parental leave have shown – we can’t take any wins for granted. We still have to be ready to defend against those who want to drag us backwards on these issues.
That means it’s critical that we keep working to hold those pledges accountable for their commitments, as well as working to secure the policy improvements we need to make progress on women’s economic inequality.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this campaign – whether as a donor, volunteer, or as someone who has used their voice to join the call for change.
How we did it
When the Abbott Government announced on Mother’s Day last year that they planned to cut new parents’ paid time at home, Fair Agenda member Anna asked you to stand with her – and within days 15,000 Fair Agenda members joined her.
When it became clear that the Government weren’t going to back down from their outrageous attack on working parents, we worked together to win the votes needed to block this proposal in the Senate.
Over the months that followed Fair Agenda members called, emailed and met with key cross-bench Senators to make sure they knew about the strong community opposition to the Government’s cuts.
This community pressure helped ensure it was impossible for the Abbott government to negotiate its cuts through the Senate.
That should have been the end of it. But instead, when Malcolm Turnbull took over the leadership, he doubled down – and announced a new, slightly different proposal he was planning to negotiate through the Senate.
But we didn’t let him.
The Turnbull Government’s had made their announcement in the weeks before Christmas – the perfect time to announce something you don’t want to attract bad press. We made sure that strategy didn’t work.
In the weeks before Christmas Fair Agenda members came together to raise the urgent funds needed to commission expert modelling on the impact of these cuts on workers like nurses, teachers, ambos and Woolies staff.
We then released that research in January, securing syndicated print coverage across major cities, keeping this issue in the headlines where it belonged.
This coverage helped get crossbench Senator John Madigan on the record as opposed to the new cuts – securing a critical vote needed to block the Government’s attack.
Then, Fair Agenda joined our friends at The Parenthood in Canberra, to meet with key Senators Glenn Lazarus and Jacqui Lambie.
Together with fair Agenda member Heather and her son Luca, we stood with the Senators as they told media they would pledge the final votes needed to block the Turnbull Government’s new cuts in the Senate.
It won us a reprieve under this parliament, and it should have been the end. But then Minister Porter told media that the fact that the Government's hadn't been able to pass the legislation: "does not mean that this government at the moment is not trying to change [the current system], or if it were re-elected wouldn’t also be looking at ways in which to modify the existing system along the lines that we have suggested.”
In response, Fair Agenda members stepped up our campaign – donating and volunteering to make this an issue for voters at the July 2 election.
Fair Agenda members led meetings with key candidates, and funded an election scorecard that got 6 key Parties on the record as opposing any cuts that the Turnbull Government might try to get through.
Then we got that scorecard in front of more than 15,000 voters before they headed to the polls.
And today, we confirmed that the pledges won by Fair Agenda mean that we have the number of votes needed to block these cuts in the Senate.
Thanks to all the Fair Agenda members who helped make this win possible!
In response to this year's shock election result the Liberal Party are commencing a 'no holds barred' review of their election campaign.
It's an election that saw the number of women serving as federal Liberal politicians pushed to a 20 year low, and the replacement of three retiring female MPs with male candidates.
It's unacceptable regression, and it's prompting senior Liberal party members to speak out about the need for urgent, strong action to ensure balanced representation of women within the Party.
Fair Agenda members have said that women's under-representation is one of the top issues concerning our community; so we're speaking up to show we support the calls of advocates within the Liberal Party calling for change on this important issue.
Here's the submission we've just sent to Federal Liberal Party HQ, expressing Fair Agenda members' support for immediate action (PDF copy here):
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Att: Richard Alston & Tony Nutt
Liberal Party Federal Secretariat
PO Box 6004
Kingston ACT 2604
Re: Submission to review of the federal election campaign
Dear Mr Alston & Mr Nutt,
I write on behalf of Fair Agenda, an independent community campaigning organisation working to bring about a fair and equal future for women.
Fair Agenda is a community made up of 35,000 women and men from all backgrounds and walks of life, and from across the political spectrum.
One of the issues Fair Agenda members are concerned about is the ongoing under-representation of women in our parliaments. They are particularly concerned about the low number of women currently serving as federal representatives of the Liberal Party.
As part of the election review being undertaken by the Party, I are writing on behalf of Fair Agenda members to urge the Liberal Party to make women’s representation an internal priority. Fair Agenda members support strong measures to increase the number of women pre-selected as Liberal candidates, particularly in safe seats, before the next federal election.
Australia’s political leaders should reflect the full array of talent that Australia has to offer, and the varied perspectives and life experiences that make up the communities they represent.
Yet when federal parliament reconvenes next August, 8 out of 10 federal Liberal MPs will be men.
I note the 2015 report from the federal executive warning that the Liberal Party risks losing relevance if it doesn’t lift female participation.
The report highlights barriers to women’s participation in the party, and processes that perpetuate the power of those already in political positions, to the exclusion of others, particularly women. On behalf of Fair Agenda members, I urge you to address these issues as a priority through this review process.
Fair Agenda welcomes the Party’s endorsement of a target of 50% female candidates by 2025. However, our members are concerned that the Liberal Party has actually gone backwards in terms of representation; and that Liberal Party representatives themselves have stated that women are being recruited and preselected into mostly marginal or unwinnable seats.
We note that at the most recent election in the three seats of Murray, Mackellar and Brisbane where women were retiring, they were universally replaced by male candidates.
As part of the election review and response process, we urge you to make addressing the barriers to women’s election, pre-selection and promotion within the Liberal Party.
We particularly note the sentiment of Fair Agenda members like Ms R, who said “you will continue to disenfranchise loyal supporters if you don’t support women at branch level and beyond. Myself and my friends included.”
On behalf of concerned Fair Agenda members, we would welcome your response and further information on the actions being taken to address barriers to women’s pre-selection and promotion.
Yours sincerely,
Renee Carr
Executive Director
Fair Agenda