Content warning: This article contains references to sexual violence.
‘It’s amazing to know that I’m not the only person who feels this angry,’ says Alice Williams, as she looks at the crowd around us in Treasury Gardens on Monday 15 March. She’s not.
There were more than 5,000 people at Treasury Gardens. Across Australia, there were 40 marches from Adelaide to Wagga Wagga. All in, 100,000 people were involved either in person or signing a petition demanding change and accountability.
It may be the biggest uprising of women that this country has seen, and it happened quickly. ‘Is it possible to form a ring of people around the perimeter of (Parliament House?)’ tweeted Janine Hendry, an academic, designer and feminist on 25 February.
Hendry wanted to mobilise the many ‘extremely disgruntled’ women in the wake of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s failure to call an enquiry over the rape allegations of Attorney-General Christian Porter, and the government’s collective failing over the rape reported by ex-Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.
This is my first in-person demonstration in years. For me, the culmination of women’s names in the news: Brittany Higgins, Grace Tame, Katharine Thornton, was a powerful reminder of the constancy of sexual abuse.
Between us, Alice and I have packed off four kids, cleared up breakfast mayhems, and shoved lunches into our backpacks to be here. It feels less optional to be here now.
'Between us, Alice and I have packed off four kids, cleared up breakfast mayhems, and shoved lunches into our backpacks to be here. It feels less optional to be here now.'
At the top of the hill, sitting on a bench, are three friends holding signs that say: #IBelieveHer, #ScottyKnew, #JusticeForKate, #March4Justice. Helen Fox, 75, from Warrandyte, Julie Grint, 66 and in a witch’s hat, from Templestowe, and Kammy Cordner, 62 and just in from Mansfield, are veterans of protesting for women.
‘I’ve been protesting for human rights for decades, and women’s rights are human rights,’ says Helen, a domestic violence survivor. ‘I want justice for Kate, justice for Brittany. I know they’re not lying.’
Kate was the woman who the Attorney-General Christian Porter is alleged to have raped in 1988. Kate was 16, Porter was 17, and they were on the same debating team. It is a case that divides men's and women's experiences, because Porter remains Attorney-General, and Kate suicided last year.
‘This is about the injustice of the justice system,’ says Kammy.