Labor MP Kate Thwaites appeared on the ABC on Tuesday to talk about why listening to women’s voices in the wake of the #March4Justice rallies is so important.
When asked about the criticism Prime Minister Scott Morrison is currently facing, after he failed to attend the march outside of Parliament House on Monday, Thwaites only managed to get a couple of sentences out before being talked over by Liberal Senator Ben Small.
“The Prime Minister just could not be further from what is going on in this country. I was out at that march with a lot of Labor figures, and I know some government figures were as well,” Thwaites said.
She was just beginning to talk about how there is a “feeling that people’s voices were not being heard”, when Senator Small proceeded to talk over her, well before she had finished making her point.
“Are you going to talk over me on this? Are you really going to talk over me on this issue?” Thwaites asked the Senator, who continued to talk over her.
“Ben, we’re talking about respect for women in this workplace. Are you going to talk over me?”
Senator Small did not stop his interruption, so Thwaites, eventually, ended up saying, “I’ll let you keep going, then.”
I went on ABC tv to talk about why the #March4Justice was so important and Morrison Government Senator Ben Small decided to talk over me. It’s so distressing just how much this Government doesn’t get it. #auspol #mansplained pic.twitter.com/MbJawrNBzw
— Kate Thwaites (@ThwaitesKate) March 16, 2021
Senator Small is a new addition to the Australian Parliament, having been selected to fill the casual vacancy created by Mathias Cormann’s retirement from politics.
It was an embarrassingly tone deaf display from the Senator, who seemed to completely miss the point about the urgency of listening to, and respecting women – particularly when it comes to issues like gender equality and sexual violence.
He was more concerned about getting in the last word, and defending the Prime Minister, who just yesterday, told the women of Australia it was a “triumph of democracy” that they were not “met with bullets” while attending the #March4Justice.