Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has called out the opposition for describing her as “nasty” during a question time debate.
Allan had been answering a question about the upcoming state budget, when the opposition’s manager of businesses in the lower house, James Newbury, raised a point of order on relevance, stating: “This was an important question not for the premier to be nasty again.”
Allan responded, saying that Newbury’s “out of touch” comment contributed to a culture of disrespect for women.
“That point of order demonstrates it… For months now, women have been demanding a better conversation, a better culture, about respect for women, and that starts with all of us, speaker,” Allan said.
“And when you only call women in this place nasty, when you only call women in this place tawdry, you are not demonstrating the sort of leadership we all need to be showing about what respect for women looks like and what happens when you don’t.”
In a discussion about the state budget, sexist language should never be uttered let alone thought, especially considering that violence against women is an escalating national crisis.
With 28 women dead already this year from violence, and a government response that many advocates are saying does not hit the mark, it’s definitely not the time to be using sexist language in parliament.
The word ‘nasty’ seems to find its way into the mouths of male politicians much-too often. It evokes deja vu for those who remember the word thrown around by Donald Trump to Hilary Clinton during the 2016 US presidential election.
“I am a naaaaaasty woman”, actress Ashley Judd roared to a crowd of half a million at the Women’s March in Washington, before delivering a biting poem, by 19-year-old Nina Donovan, about President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Now, it seems, the phrase has made it back into the mouth of a male politician here in Australia, amidst a national crisis of violence against women. And while it certainly won’t derail women from the real work that needs to be done, we aren’t afraid to call it out.