This is Australian-style sexism brought to you by a senator and Sky News
It seems that certain elements of Australian politics are very slow to catch on to the #metoo movement, and that sexism is alive and well in Parliament House, to the point where Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is seeking legal advice with a view to suing a right-wing senator, David Leyonhjelm, for defamation following sexist comments he made to her in the Senate.
"The Senate was debating a motion to allow the importation of pepper spray and personal tasers to give women options to defend themselves. That motion was in part inspired by the rape and murder of 22-year-old Eurydice Dixon when she walked home through an inner-city Melbourne park in June.
"Greens senator Janet Rice opposed the motion in a way that highlighted the culture war debate that arose after Dixon’s death: the onus should not be on women to go to extreme lengths to combat violence, she said, when it was men’s crimes that were the issue.
"Sarah Hanson-Young, a fellow Green senator, interjected that “men should stop raping women”.
"Leyonhjelm, who was one of only five senators who supported the motion, shot back that Hanson-Young “should stop shagging men”. When Hanson-Young went over to confront him, she called him a “creep”. Leyonhjelm replied, “fuck off”."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/03/leyonhjelm-hanson-young-sky-australian-style-sexism
And neither PM Turnbull nor Labor leader Bill Shorten have called out Leyonhjelm for his comments. We know that Turnbull relies on Leyonhjelm for his Senate vote, but what is Shorten's excuse? Both are setting a very poor example to the rest of the country.
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after he continued to repeat his remarks on TV and radio shows, and refused to apologise. Without parliamentary privilege to protect him, he's now vulnerable to legal action.
Both parties have started Go-Fund-Me accounts, with Sarah way ahead, having currently raised $45,000 towards her legal fees.
But Leyonhjelm really doesn't care, because he's just playing to his base. Although he was elected on 0.10% of the total Senate vote, thanks to our Preferential Voting system, he got in. All he needs to get back next time is to rally those few nutters again and he's home. And it's extraordinary how many women-haters there are out there, happy to jump on his bandwagon.
Edited to add: Malcolm Turnbull finally did call out Leyonhjelm for his remarks, and was told to "stop being a pussy".
