Media Tarts

by Julia Baird

  9Kate Legge, ‘Mother knows best — Goodluck, MP, knows better’, Age, 19 Aug. 1983.

  10Jerry Fetherston, ‘Ros Kelly’s politics are home-based: ambition’s on the backburner as tipped Cabinet minister sorts out her priorities’, Woman’s Day, 28 July 1986, pp. 8–9.

  11Her ability to manage a hectic schedule was, according to the subheading of another article by a woman journalist, ‘proving again that a woman’s place is in the House as well as in the home’. Liz Porter, ‘A mother’s place in politics’, Mirror, 29 Sept. 1983.

  12Rosemary Munday, ‘Ros Kelly: finding the time for politics . . . and a new baby’, Australian Women’s Weekly, 1 Jan. 1985, pp. 10–11.

  13Interview with the author, 2 Feb. 1997.

  14Leslie Anderson, ‘“I’m not going to resign yet,” says Mrs Craig’, Sunday Times, 9 Aug. 1981.

  15From an interview with the author. Bronwyn Bishop also claims her divorced status was used against her by Bob Ellis in the 1994 Mackellar by-election: ‘It was pretty ugly . . . I think one of the ugliest ads he ran was: “Here is a picture of me with my family. I am a married man and she is divorced.”’ Ellis describes the ad as a photograph of himself with his family standing on the ashes of the house he had lived in for 17 years, which had burnt down. ‘I said I invite Senator Bishop to provide a similar photo. She ran one in response with a photo of her and her daughter saying, “Families come in all sizes.”’

  16Commonwealth of Australia Parliamentary Debates, 23 April 1902, vol. ix, p. 11937. The ‘honorable gentleman’ he is referring to is Sir William Lyne.

  17‘Busy life for Senator mum and wife’, News (Northern Territory), 20 Aug. 1981; Kate Legge, ‘Wanted, dead or alive’, Age, 13 Oct. 1984; ‘The most powerful woman in Canberra’, Bulletin, 6 Nov. 1984.

  18John Hamilton, ‘Democrats’ voice that won’t be silenced’, Herald (Melbourne), 26 Aug. 1985.

  19Karen Harbutt, ‘Wounded Janine Haines parries Siddons’ sword’, Canberra Times, 18 Jan. 1987.

  20Amanda Buckley, ‘Janine Haines: balancing on a two-edged sword’, SMH, 30 Nov. 1985, p. 44.

  21Lyndall Crisp, ‘High moral ground in a snappy sweater’, Times on Sunday, 5 July 1987.

  22Greg Mayfield, ‘Mr Haines to become a Mr Mom’, News, 18 Dec. 1986; also printed in the Herald (Melbourne), ‘Mum’s the word for Senator’s husband’, 18 Dec. 1986.

  23Transcript, Pru Goward interview with Janine Haines and Janet Powell, 5 Nov. 1990, Federal Parliamentary Library clippings files.

  24Madonna King, ‘Canberra wives unite’, Mercury (Hobart), 27 July 1989; Laurie Oakes, ‘The miseries of an MP’s wife’, Bulletin, 20 June 1989, p. 28; ‘Roslyn Kelly’, Bulletin, 3 July 1984.

  25Peter Coster, ‘The man who waits at home for Haines’, Herald (Melbourne), 16 June 1987.

  26Chris Purcell, Sun-Herald, 20 July 1986. See also Rosanne Robertson, ‘Behind these successful women, there’s Hu, Harold and Ivo’, Good Weekend, SMH, 9 Feb. 1985, p. 30.

  27Gerard Ryle, ‘Meg Lees — the unauthorised story’, SMH, 19 June 1999.

  28Sawer and Simms, A Woman’s Place: Women and Politics in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1993, p. 141.

  29Peter Coster, op. cit. Note this was also printed in the Sunday Mail (Brisbane) under the same headline on 28 June 1987.

  30Farah Farouque, ‘House and home’, Age, 12 Oct. 2003, p. 1.

  31Ian Henderson, ‘A job only a politico could love’, Australian, 6 Nov. 2001, p. 9.

  Chapter Five: Feminist Politicians: ‘waving the flag of feminine feminism’

  1Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975, following the decision by the Liberal Party to block the supply of money bill in the Senate. This was ostensibly done on the grounds that the ALP government had mismanaged the economy through excessive expenditure, pushing up unemployment and inflation as well as interest rates. In April the government had been subject to criticism following revelations that the Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rex O’Connor, had attempted to borrow up to $4000 million from overseas sources in a bid to buy back Australian resources from overseas investors. He resigned in October. On 16 October, the Senate voted to block supply until Whitlam agreed to call an election. The ALP lost the following election, held in December. For a discussion of Rupert Murdoch’s apparent campaign against Whitlam, see George Munster, A Paper Prince, Viking, Ringwood, 1985.

  2‘Talk but no action’, Daily Telegraph, 1 Sept. 1975.

  3Quoted by Virginia Haussegger, ‘Has feminism let us down?’, Age, 23 April 2003, p. 15.

  4Elisabeth Kirkby, ‘When the Air Force holds cake stalls’, in Jocelyn Scutt, Different Lives: Reflections on the Women’s Movement and Visions of its Future, Penguin, Ringwood, 1987, p. 87.

  5Pat Nigra, ‘Women in politics’, Daily Telegraph, 3 May 1972, p. 43.

  6She told one journalist the single exception was when she was trying to be elected mayor of Fairfield. (Toni McRae, ‘Wran to get a fighting lady’, Australian, 9 Sept. 1981.) Crosio told another reporter: ‘I have never experienced being disadvantaged because I am a woman. Female politicians are concerned more with the quality than the quantity of life. Women are more questioning and perceptive.’ (Jill Gainsford, ‘A woman’s place is in Labor’, Sunday Telegraph, 21 June 1981.)

  7Jill George, ‘Politics is Jan’s real bread and butter’, Sunday Telegraph, 27 Sept. 1981.

  8Chris Blanche, ‘Janice wins her way up’, Daily Telegraph, 24 Sept. 1981.

  9When she was federal minister for aged care, Bronwyn Bishop told me in an interview on 25 July 1994 that ‘the word feminist has a pejorative meaning in that I am just an individual and I live in a country which gives me opportunities to use the talents that I have and you have and everybody else has . . . To me, feminism focuses on, instead of the positives, the negatives.’

  10Ann Curthoys writes the women’s liberation movement sprang from the New Left and was ‘concerned with imperialism, socialism, and the oppression of Third World and minority groups, with the ideologies sustaining an evil capitalist system, with revolutionary strategy and tactics’. (Ann Curthoys, ‘The women’s movement and social justice’, in Dorothy Broom (ed.) Unfinished Business: Social Justice for Women in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1984, p. 162.)

  11Noel Francis from the Canberra Times said ‘feminists, or members of women’s lib . . . will feel some exultation that the voice of woman is being heard more widely throughout the land.’ (Noel Francis, ‘Seat in the House for mother of five’, Canberra Times, 25 June 1974.) Child was not entirely hostile towards the women’s movement. She told journalists she was not a ‘staunch Women’s Lib supporter’ but that the movement had ‘opened closed doors and stuffy rooms and brought a much needed change to attitudes in Victoria’. (Don Baker, ‘Joan may be in select few’, Sun-Pictorial (Melbourne), 1974, Joan Child Federal Parliamentary Library clippings files.)

  12Interview with the author, 27 Feb. 1997.

  13Stephanie Bunbury, ‘The Liberal who is at home in the House and the kitchen’, Age, 22 Feb. 1985.

  14When Liz Reid was appointed women’s adviser to the Labor government in 1972, a journalist wrote: ‘Would the sisterhood please stand still for a moment and stop wobbling under their t-shirts? I have just been talking to . . . Miz Liz — in flared jeans, tank top and no bra.’ (John Hamilton, ‘“But what do I tell my Girl?” asks the PM’s Miz’, Herald (Melbourne), 21 August 1973.)

  15The term ‘bra-burning’ evolved from a demonstration against the Miss America pageant in 1968, where women threw bras and other items of feminine dress and make-up into a garbage bin. They were not actually burned; a journalist wrongly reported that they were. But press reports emblazoned ‘bra-burning’ into public consciousness, and it became an enduring symbol of women’s rejection of patriarchy, and a reminder both of feminist debates about women’s bodies and a cultural fascination with breasts. Susan Faludi points out there was scant evidence of underwear torc
hings at women’s rights demonstrations in the 1970s, and only two displays that came close were fabricated, and organised by men. (Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War against Women, Chatto & Windus, London, 1991, p. 99.)

  16‘ALP picks woman for state post’, Australian, 12 July 1971, p. 2. Even Enid Lyons, the first woman MHR, who had been retired for 25 years, told a journalist she did approve of women’s lib, and that one of her many greatgrandsons had brought her a box of matches, telling her she could burn her bra with them. (Anne Dupree, ‘Dame Enid looks at life . . . the family role’, Sun, 23 Sept. 1976.)

  17The term originated in France in the 1880s, surfaced in England in the 1890s, and several years later appeared in the United States (and Australia). (Leonie Huddy, ‘Feminists and feminism in the news’, in Pippa Norris (ed.), Women, Media and Politics, Oxford University Press, New York, 1997, p. 185.) Activist Ann Curthoys argues the term rested on different political perspectives in what she calls a ‘very chequered history of naming’. Before 1970, she argues, there was a large gap between those who called themselves feminists and those who fought for what they called ‘women’s equality’. Women active in the Left (including those who came from the anti–Vietnam War movement, the Labor Party or the Communist Party) saw the former as decrying class analysis. According to Curthoys, the term ‘women’s liberation’ emerged in the early 1970s and comprised a rejection of both positions: ‘“Feminism” was seen as describing an older women’s non-libertarian anti-sex position, while “women’s equality” could never do (equality with what? men? them? no thanks!).’ (Ann Curthoys, ‘Where is feminism now?’, in Jenna Mead (ed.), Bodyjamming, Vintage, Sydney, 1997, p. 189.)

  18Anne Summers, Damned Whores and God’s Police, Penguin, Ringwood, 1994 (1975), p. 509.

  19Ann Curthoys, For and against Feminism, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1988, p. 64.

  20Juliet Mitchell, ‘Women: the longest revolution’, New Left Review, no. 44, 1966; Pat Mainardi, ‘The politics of housework’, in Ellen Malos (ed.), The Politics of Housework, Allison & Busby, 1980, pp. 99–104; Kate Millett, Sexual Politics, Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1969; Shulamith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, Paladin, St Albans, 1972 (1971).

  21For a discussion of the split between reformists and revolutionaries, see Patricia Grimshaw, ibid., pp. 66–86.

  22Some women journalists were founding members of WEL, and Kate White argues they tailored the organisation to meet with media acceptance. (Kate White, ‘Women and party politics in Australia’, Australian Quarterly, vol. 53, autumn 1981, p. 32.)

  23Quoted in Joyce Nicholson, The Women’s Electoral Lobby and women’s employment: strategies and outcome, MA minor thesis, Women’s Studies, University of Melbourne, 1991, p. 27.

  24The National Women’s Consultative Council, quoted by Marian Sawer, Sisters in Suits: Women and Public Policy in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1990, p. 3. The newspapers surveyed were the Nation Review, the Age, the Australian, the Bulletin, the National Times, the Australian Financial Review, Woman’s Day and the Sunday Telegraph.

  25A survey conducted in 1983 found 28 per cent of women from different political parties, who were state and federal MPs, had been or were still WEL members, including Susan Ryan, Ruth Coleman, Kathy Martin, June Craig, Anne Levy, Grace Vaughan, Robyn Walmsley, Margaret Reynolds, Pat Giles, Kay Hallahan, Carmen Lawrence, Yvonne Henderson, Barbara Wiese and Virginia Chadwick. (Kate White, ‘Is the women’s movement turning inward?’, National Times, 20–26 May 1983; Karen Kissane, ‘Can the family cope, Senator?’, Age, 14 April 1982.) Note that in the 1970s and 1980s, what Marilyn Lake calls ‘state feminism’ emerged in state and federal governments, including the introduction of legislation and bureaucratic programs to promote the status of women, equal opportunity, affirmative action, and to prevent sexual discrimination. (Marilyn Lake, Getting Equal: The History of Australian Feminism, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1999, p. 253.)

  26Lyndsay Connors, ‘Women are here to stay, particularly at the polls’, National Times, 4–9 Dec. 1972, p. 14.

  27Wendy McCarthy, Don’t Fence Me In, Random House, Sydney, 2000.

  28Alex Kennedy, ‘Senator beats the odds’, Advertiser, 17 April 1979.

  29See discussion in chapter six.

  30Alex Kennedy, ‘The Senator is a “together lady”’, Advertiser, 15 Sept. 1981.

  31Sun-Herald, 10 Feb. 1980; Alex Kennedy, ibid. For a discussion of the search for the ‘first woman Premier’ or prime minister, see chapter one.

  32Lenore Nicklin, ‘Labor’s optimist in the Senate’, SMH, 11 Nov. 1978.

  33The paper was by economist Anne de Salis, analysing male and female voting patterns since World War II. (Susan Ryan, Catching the Waves: Life in and out of Politics, HarperCollins, Sydney, 1999, p. 177.) Empirical analyses of the gender gap in federal elections have revealed that women have generally favoured conservative parties since gaining suffrage at the turn of the century. Don Aitkin found that approximately 10 per cent more women than men voted for the Liberal and Country parties than the Labor Party in the 1960s, but by the late 1970s the gap had almost halved. However, after this point, momentum slowed. (Don Aitkin, Stability and Change in Australian Politics, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1982; Carmen Lawrence, ‘The gender gap in political behaviour’, in Kate Deverall et. al. (eds), Party Girls: Labor Women Now, Pluto Press, Sydney, 2000.)

  34According to the Australian, ‘Her detractors reckon she’s a tough, unbending feminist. Radical feminists toughly and unbendingly accuse her of dumping their issues. You get the feeling that ACT Senator Susan Ryan is beginning to get tired of being typecast as the Labor Party’s answer to Everywoman. “I get annoyed when I’m characterised as only interested in women’s issues,” she says . . . “A difficulty I’ve had is explaining that I have broader interests than just women. And women have sometimes interpreted that as dropping their cause.”’ (Susie Foster, ‘The passionate senator seeks broader scope’, Australian, 7 Oct. 1980.)

  35Jenni Hewett, ‘The Senate’s changing feminist’, SMH, 29 July 1981, p. 7.

  36Mary-Louise O’Callaghan, ‘Oh! Susan! — But it wasn’t always so’, SMH, 26 Feb. 1987, p. 9.

  37Andrew Symon, ‘In the political trenches’, Advertiser, 12 March 1984, p. 2.

  38Chipp had been a Liberal MHR since 1960, and resigned from the Liberal Party to form the Democrats. The first Democrat MP was elected in South Australia in September 1977, while two senators, including Chipp, were elected in December 1977.

  39Marian Sawer, ‘Topsy-turvy land — where women, children and the environment come first’, op. cit., pp. 238–39.

  40Tracey Aubin, ‘Sexy? Ruthless? Funny? Will the real Janine Haines please stand up?’, Australian Magazine, 17–18 June 1989. Note that Haines told me in an interview in 2000 that she did not call herself a feminist because she hated labels.

  41See, for example, the articles that followed her remarks about the political ignorance of the ordinary Australian. (Don Aitkin, ‘Democracy, more an ideal than a reality’, Age, 3 July 1987; Suzanne Pekol, ‘A smooth campaign for Haines’ Democrats’, Courier-Mail, 3 July 1987.)

  42Angela Long, ‘Men, take a look at yourselves’, Herald (Melbourne), 13 March 1978.

  43Another example of Haines being ridiculed for drawing attention to sexism was in September 1986, when she inflamed some commentators with a speech she gave at a housing and planning conference in Adelaide. She argued male planners and developers were partly to blame for stress-related illnesses suffered by housewives because they were ignorant of the stresses of looking after children, being isolated in the suburbs, and catching public transport. (‘Haines blames male planners’, Advertiser, 30 Sept. 1986; ‘If suburbia seems a nightmare, blame him’, Age, 30 Sept. 1986; Max Fatchen, ‘The best made plans’, Advertiser, 2 Oct. 1986.) Comments like this were immediately linked to others she had made about sex and sexism. The Melbourne Herald of 30 September 1986 asked, ‘Is this the Senator for sexism?
’ and attacked her in an editorial for being simplistic and sexist, with ‘a touch of the high school debating society’ in her ‘fuzzy thinking’.

  44In 1983 she issued a Position Paper on Women and put out press releases urging women not to be hoodwinked by ‘promise her anything’ political platforms from male-dominated parties. The position paper, which promised more concessions than Ryan could as part of the ALP, covered discrimination against women, rights in marriage, legal status, employment, childcare, education of medical and legal professions, reform of rape laws, and sexual stereotyping in advertising.

  45Sue Bailey, ‘Someone has to lead, says Janine Haines’, Mercury, 19 Oct. 1984.

  46Lee Tulloch, ‘The new political power brokers’, Vogue Australia, April 1981, p. 149.

  47‘Democrat resigns over “feminists”’, Advertiser, 9 Oct. 1984. Cliff Boyd announced he was going to run as an independent because the Democrats were ‘putting feminism before the family’. He said that the importance of the role of the woman who chose to stay at home was being eroded by ‘a frenetic push to get them to do everything from walk in space to driving front end loaders’. Janet Powell attributed the breakaways to baggage from ‘old boys’ networks’ which some men had brought with them from other political parties to the Democrats. (Janet Powell, ‘Representation of women in Australian parliaments — why is it so?’ National Women’s Conference 1990: Proceedings, 1990, Write People, Canberra, p. 53.)

  48Andrew Fraser, ‘Haines and Siddons: the differing plans’, Canberra Times, 2 July 1986.

  49Christine Rau, ‘Democrats exult in poll gains’, National Times, 7 Sept. 1986.

  50Barbara Hutton, ‘The party that put a woman first’, Age, 20 Aug. 1986.

  51Janine Haines, ‘Readers’ Forum’, News, 16 Feb. 1981.

  52‘Haines may bid for Lower House at next election’, Advertiser, 13 July 1987. By January 1988, Haines was the most popular of the four major party leaders, according to a Morgan poll conducted in her home town of Adelaide. She had a 64 per cent approval rating from women, compared to 53 per cent for Labor prime minister Bob Hawke, 44 per cent for Liberal Party leader John Howard, and 29 per cent for National Party leader Ian Sinclair. (‘Haines pips Hawke in leadership stakes’, Australian, 23 Jan. 1988; Rex Jory, ‘Democrats stronger now, says Haines’, Advertiser, 23 Jan. 1988.)