Sexism in Politics

I should warn you, the last couple of days have made me very angry.

First, there was the Liberal fundraiser menu, referring to Julia as so:

from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4748796-3×2-700×467.jpg

I am shocked and horrified. This is totally inappropriate. It may have been a “joke” but if it were, then why is Julia’s menu item the only dish that has extra (and very offensive) information? If there hadn’t been the description or if every dish with a Labor MP’s name had the extra description, I might still be annoyed, but I wouldn’t be as angry as I am.

What makes it worse is the Joe Hockey, the Shadow Treasurer and MP for North Sydney (my electorate) was at the function. Whether or not Mr Hockey saw the menu is right now irrelevant to me. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t condoned it. He hasn’t said that it is wrong. That’s what is making me so angry. For all I care, he can wax on as much as he wants saying “I haven’t seen it!” – but he isn’t condoning it. The only people condoning it are the Labor Party – as far as I can tell.

Next we move onto what happened in Perth on Thursday. Here is what happened on 6PR that afternoon:

It is astounding how people like Howard Sattler think they can get away with things like that. I do have to commend Julia Gillard for maintaining her poise during Sattler’s questions. People may not like her, but she appears on radio shows and TV channels that she may not like, unlike Tony Abbott who has been avoiding the ABC News and ABC Radio interviews ever since Leigh Sales trumped him on 7:30 about a year ago.

I happened to be watching Ten Late News this evening when I heard the story – it was still developing – and it turns out that Howard Sattler has been stood down pending an “internal review”. Hmm. Like many twitterers – I think he should be sacked.

It’s made me realise in the last couple of days that there is ingrained sexism in Australian culture. It has been there for a while, but with recent, high-profile developments, it has become more obvious to me. I just hope that something can be done about it soon, and it has to be made clear that it is not OK.

Banning the Bookies

So, TV channels just agreed to stop airing live odds during televised sports matches. About time.

This only became an issue last year when it started, and there has been a bit of backlash.

This is what i am talking about:

Here is an example given by the ABC.

And here is Tom Waterhouse (Racing trainer Gai Waterhouse’s son) on Channel 10

I think this decision is fantastic. Along with others, I agree that it is inappropriate for live odds to be broadcast while children are watching, and that if we really want to prevent kids from betting we shouldn’t broadcast during the G and PG time slots. I think it is distracting and annoying, and while I may not like NRL or AFL a whole lot, nor do I love Rugby (I’m mainly cheering on Australia or enjoying looking at the players I find attractive), I do think that the betting companies have crossed a line.

Right now, betting companies are still allowed to advertise during “scheduled breaks in play” – i.e. before the game, quarter time and half time – as long as there isn’t wall to wall advertising. I honestly could not stand 5-7 minutes of things like this:

Or this:

Although, if The Chaser (a very controversial comedy group) took over, they might play these and I would be very, very happy…..Warning: There is swearing. I warned you!

What do you think?