Topics: PM’s podcast, AFL’s failure to protect women in sport, student protests, ABC/Gina Rinehart fallout
Rowan Dean: Sarah, great to see you. Thanks for coming on. So much to talk about but we’ve got to get your opinion. First up, just on the whole-ish, Albanese, the lies, the melons. He only talks with his hands. As someone who uses my hands a lot, Sarah, it has been pointed out, I still don’t make gags like Albanese did about the Japanese prime minister. How serious is this scandal?
Senator Henderson: Well, it is serious because the prime minister has lied. He won’t apologise, Rowan. Every Australian knows that when you’re talking about a beautiful pair of melons and holding hands like that, that only means one thing. He was clearly referring to the Prime Minister of Japan’s breasts and it is disgusting. It was grubby and smutty, and really, the Prime Minister should have apologised weeks ago. In fact, I asked him to apologise when I first found this and uncovered this on the tape of the interview of the Bush, sorry, I forget the name of the podcast…
Rita Panahi: Bush Deep, Bush Barbie.
Senator Henderson: Bush Deep podcast, right back on the 6th of July that he should apologise. And now of course, he’s admitted he was only apologising for parts of the podcast relating to his comments, his disgusting comments about Kylie Minogue, and so he’s really made things worse.
He’s deepened the diplomatic crisis between Japan and Australia, and then to compound his error, he has senior Labor women coming out and backing him in and saying there’s nothing to see here, so this is just another lie. Frankly, Australians are sick of the lies, the lies on electricity prices, the lies on taxes, on negative gearing, on capital gains. We’ve had enough of the lies. We cannot trust this prime minister and this is yet another example.
Rowan Dean: I hope you’re not suggesting he actually fell over off that podium that time, are you? Shocking stuff. Rita?
Senator Henderson: Well, yes, he did.
Rita Panahi: Well, yes, the feminist movement in this country has got a rich history of ignoring the plight of conservative women and, you know, standing up for men who behave poorly, prime ministers and the first one. And I want to ask you about that movement’s attitude to trans participants in sport. I know it’s an issue you care about. This is something that’s happening in the Adelaide Footy League Women’s Competition where they do have a male body identifying as female competing, why are we so behind the times in this country? The rest of the world seems to have had a bit of a reckoning with this issue and is putting out sensible policy positions. But Australia, we seem to be an outlier?
Senator Henderson: Well, Rita, I don’t understand it. I’ve been very vocal on this issue for a long time. Sex-based rights are very important, including in change rooms, in sport and in other places where the rights of women have to be protected, such as domestic violence refuges. But for the AFL to make this policy to allow men to play in women’s football is just abhorrent. It is unsafe, as well as being unfair. And good on those local footy leagues for standing up to the AFL and saying that’s just not acceptable. So the AFL needs to get with the times. This is just complete rubbish. It’s embarrassing.
It’s also happening in other sports like soccer in New South Wales, where Kirralie Smith is going through hell over what she has said in relation to calling out a number of men who identify as women who are playing in a women’s soccer team. It is just completely unacceptable. And that is why we have committed to change the Sex Discrimination Act. And it’s another reflection on Labor, on Labor women who have fundamentally failed to stand up for women in this country, the rights of women and girls, and it’s completely nonsensical and untenable.
Rowan Dean: James?
James Morrow: And Senator, just you know, on that because that obviously affects a lot of young people. Another issue where we saw young people featured in a way that, well, they weren’t sending their best, let’s just say, was in some of those walkouts on classes this week protesting against One Nation, Pauline Hanson, and you know it wasn’t reasoned debate. It wasn’t educated debate. It was really just pretty feral. I’m not asking you to freelance like maybe some of your other colleagues might have done this week but I would love to just get an idea about where the Coalition is going, where the Liberal Party is going to really fix an education system that from, you know, where they train the teachers to the classrooms to the curriculum, all seems to be pointing students towards radical leftist politics. Whether it’s One Nation, whether it’s Palestine, whether it’s climate, what is the Coalition’s plan to fix this?
Senator Henderson: Well, James, can I first say, in relation to that protest, that was completely abhorrent. What some of those students said including threats to kill. The threat to kill Pauline Hanson was completely abhorrent. And frankly, the police must investigate. Because threats to kill are unlawful. And I also want to see any school which participated in this protest and encouraged their students to attend, they also need to be investigated. And the teachers who encouraged this behaviour, encouraged students to unlawfully attend this protest because, of course, it’s against the law not to go to school, they also need to be investigated. The consequences must flow from both these disgusting and appalling threats to kill, which I could not believe what I was watching, and also the conduct of schools which encourage students to attend this protest.
And secondly, in relation to school standards, well, as the former Shadow Education Minister, we took a very strong set of policies to the last election. I was very critical of the cross-curriculum priorities, which require schools in the national curriculum to teach through the framework of sustainability, of Asia and of Indigeneity. That just completely does not conform with the evidence. We need to get back to basics and we need to get rid of those rubbish cross-curriculum priorities. I was very clear about that before. And we need a curriculum that’s evidence-based and serves the best interests of Australian children. And that’s why we also, in our policy we took to the last election, we committed to review the curriculum. It’s just not serving young Australians as it should and it needs to be fixed.
Rowan Dean: And finally, Sarah, on a very related topic and one dear to your heart, the ABC, and yes, they made a weak apology to Gina Rinehart but again, celebrating, advocating for, promoting the violent death of a prominent Australian conservative. Shouldn’t they be investigated too? Shouldn’t the ABC be defunded? What’s going to happen? They just walk away with a little slap on the wrist from themselves?
Senator Henderson: Well, firstly, I’m disgusted by the way the ABC has managed this issue. Clearly, the most senior executives at the ABC may not have seen the program before it went to air. But Hugh Marks, as the managing director and editor-in-chief, should have immediately apologised and removed that material. And the fact that it took him so long, and I think the apology was not strong enough, is a very poor reflection on the ABC.
I’m also very concerned about the internal ombudsman and the finding that there was no breach of current editorial policies. I don’t believe that. I mean, there are very strong policies against and including in the ABC Act, which prohibit partial reporting or the partial dissemination of news and information. I mean, this was clearly an attack on a very prominent conservative woman in Australia. And the fact that the ABC’s internal ombudsman, an employee of the ABC, found no wrongdoing under their existing policies, I don’t buy it, and I think that whole system needs to be reviewed.
And as for the minister not having the decency to call for the ABC to apologise, again citing their editorial independence, well, that’s just unacceptable because the ABC’s editorial independence is contingent on them complying with their policies, the statute, and their procedures. And I think the ABC failed on all of those things and is to be very strongly condemned. Rowan Dean: And just very quickly, shouldn’t ACMA be investigating because they breached the M rulings? I’ve shown that, I’ve proven that they breached the M rulings. So why aren’t ACMA investigating? Would you like to see ACMA investigating the ABC?
Senator Henderson: Yes, I absolutely would, and ACMA does have the power to investigate this matter, and it should. And I’m very hopeful that it will find against the ABC because I agree, I believe there was an absolute breach of existing policies and so I do hope and trust that ACMA will make the same finding.
Rowan Dean: Senator Sarah Henderson, always great to chat to you. Thanks so much for coming on Outsiders, and we’ll speak again soon.