Chingsanghoih Guite/ The Hauterfly
Chingsanghoih Guite/ The Hauterfly
They say the, ‘grass on the other side is always greener’, and that’s something we all like believe because it gives us a chance to wallow in our misery. Be it drawing a comparison with other people’s lives, partners, professions or even countries, we tend to get enticed by what other people have, believing they have it better than us. Take our government for example, we’re so consumed with finding faults with the ones who run our country, we tend to overlook the fact that other countries out there might not be any better. Worse, in fact, especially after news of Australian conservative government performing sex acts in the parliament has surfaced.
A series of distressing claims have been made about the Australian government officials, where videos of MPs indulged in sex acts in parliament, including one man masturbating over a female MP’s desk have been leaked and created a havoc in the country that has been left disgusted with the news.
The Prime Minister of the country, Scott Morrison who is already stretched at all odds and ends, trying to handle allegations of a female government being raped by a colleague, has yet again found himself knee-deep in a scandal, as his government officials have come under ire for such unruly behaviour in the Australian Parliment.
Australia's Morrison government will never get serious about stopping sexual harassment at work, regardless of the PM's tearfully contrite press conference https://t.co/YY9NhUYc6n @MargMcCrohon pic.twitter.com/1R17uDAeAr
— William Byng (@WByng) March 23, 2021
Calling the acts “disgraceful” and “absolutely shameful”, Scott Morrison has come under a lot of pressure from the female lawmakers and the Australian public who have been outraged with the claims and the leaked videos from the Australian Parlianment. The leak has supposedly come from a whistleblower, being identified as Tom, who has said that government staffers and MPs would often used a Parliament House prayer room to have sex, and alleged that sex workers had been brought into the building “for the pleasure of coalition MPs”.
He further went on to claim that a bunch of staffers would also swap explicit pictures of themselves routinely, and that it had been done to the extent that he now felt “immune” to them. He also commented on the kind of culture that prevailed and said, “culture of men thinking that they can do whatever they want” went around and despite no law being technically broken, “morally, they are bankrupt”.
Several other ministers rattled by the dirty secrets being let out, stepped up to express their dissent and disgust. Marise Payne, Minister for Women claimed that the revelations were “beyond disappointing”, while Cabinet minister Karen Andrews said she had had an “absolute gutful” of sexism in politics and her “conscience will no longer allow me to remain quiet”.
'What fun is power if you can't act like a rock star?' song lyric & motto of officials &staff in "Australia’s national parliament" https://t.co/UkPmFLVyor or https://t.co/ysfGkLrfEM "government staffers filmed sexual encounters in the building & brought in sex workers to see MPs"
— 3reads (@3reads) March 23, 2021
Senator Lidia Thorpe also came forward with her claims of alleged sexual harassment by four male politicians since she took office just six months ago. She told the Canberra Times that the “brazen” harassment had included “suggestive” remarks and unwanted touching from these men. She further went on to tweet, “These are men that write our laws – men that should know better. What they’ve done is violating behaviour. It’s physical. It’s sexualising, objectifying behaviour – it makes me feel physically sick.”
Several other claims have been made by women against officials that have allegedly tried to abuse their power and sexually assaulted women. Scott Morrison, in a press conference on Tuesday, grew emotional while addressing the concerns as he started talking about the importance of his wife, mother and daughters, also saying women had endured a “very traumatic” month.
Tens of thousands of women across Australia have protested against sexual violence under the slogan #March4Justice, calling out misogyny and dangerous workplace cultures as the government reels from two rape allegations. pic.twitter.com/taWHmkjp0P
— DW News (@dwnews) March 17, 2021
He said, “These events have triggered, right across this building and indeed right across the country, women who have put up with this rubbish and this crap for their entire lives, as their mothers did, as their grandmothers did.” Rallies with hashtag “#March4Justice” are being taken out and we sit hopeful to see these men being punished for violating women, and for a better and safe work culture to be introduced.
