Respect for women should be non-political

Speech by Member for Whitsunday Amanda Camm MP to the Queensland Legislative Assembly on April 18, 2023.

In regards to respect for women, certainly we understand that it does not know political colours.

When a woman speaks up and says she has been hurt, when she has been disrespected, when she has been controlled or abused by a man, the first question we ask is certainly not, ‘What political affiliation do you have? What political party do you belong to?’, or worse still, ‘What is the political affiliation of the person you are making a complaint about?’

‘We see you. We hear you. We believe you’: words I have heard in this House spoken by many on the opposite side, yet when it comes to a woman who has spoken out publicly against a member of their own party—silence, crickets.

Once again, we see strong words from those opposite in regards to prevention of violence against women, yet we see no action. In a government response to Not now, not ever, the Premier’s foreword stated— As a government, we cannot achieve change alone. We need to embark on this journey as a community and together take responsibility for the cultural change we wish to achieve. We must ask ourselves “what can I do?”.

Culture starts at the top, and at the top of this government, the leadership has checked out. Whether you point to any boardroom, any organisation and particularly this government, we know culture starts at the top. The hypocrisy of this Premier and of this Attorney-General when it comes to violence against women has been demonstrated time after time in this House.

When does the Premier stand up for women? Only when it does not hurt her own reputation.

When does the Minister for Women and the Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence stand up for women? Only when it does not reflect badly on the government and when she is not too busy playing bullying tactics to the women of the opposite side.

We saw it again last year with the complete debacle of the DNA lab. The government blamed victims; the government blamed police. The government blamed everyone but their own departments. We saw it with inadequate rape kits. Once again, victims were blamed and billed for their own rape kit that was inadequate and not even up to a standard that we should accept. We see it again and again and again.

We see the hypocrisy demonstrated by this government. We saw it again when a member of government, the member for Ferny Grove, came in and criticised one of the women on this side of the House.

Mr Furner: And apologised. And apologised.

Ms Camm: I will take the interjection. The member did apologise, but what did we hear from the women on that side of the House? From the Premier and the Attorney-General there was silence. There was absolutely nothing. There was no calling out of that behaviour. This Premier always has someone else to blame and someone else who will deal with it. Whether it is the Labor Party as it is in this case, whether it is the police or whether it is the Clerk of the Parliament, it is always someone else’s fault and it is always up to someone else to take accountability because the Premier will not take accountability and there is a lack of leadership.

It is not for me or others in this House to judge the allegations that have been reported in the media against the member for Ipswich West. I do acknowledge his announcement in the House today.

What concerns me is the complete inability of this Premier to listen to women from all backgrounds. A woman is no less a woman because of her political persuasion. A woman is no less a woman because of her religious affiliation. A woman is no less a woman based upon where she lives in this state and a woman’s story is no less real, no less traumatic because the person she alleges receiving harm from is from the Labor Party.

This Attorney-General and this Premier are full of hypocrisy. We heard it just then from the member for Capalaba, who took five minutes to speak about our party’s internal workings instead of his own community. He called out a long-serving mayor who made her own admission, went through the process, has said sorry and has come out the other side like many people before her. He criticised a woman, a woman member of the LNP, a woman member who is the mayor of a large community, but he cannot look to his own colleagues who have been on drunken nights out and certainly have been charged and had their day in court.

The hypocrisy of this government is starting to show and people are awake to it. Those opposite cannot stand up and say they are listening to women when it is only when it suits them.

Mr Acting Speaker: Pause the clock. Member for Nanango, you need to be in your own seat if you want to engage in the debate.

Ms Camm: The Premier said that she was very concerned when it came to allegations made against the member for Ipswich West. I say to the Premier if she is so concerned, what action is she going to take? What is the standard that this Premier and this Attorney-General will set, because all we see is lip-service and no action?