On 15 March 2023, pursuant to section 7(c) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011, the Attorney-General referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights the following matters for inquiry and report by 31 March 2024:
to consider whether the Framework should be re-established, as well as the components of the Framework, and any improvements that should be made;
to consider developments since 2010 in Australian human rights laws (both at the Commonwealth and State and Territory levels) and relevant case law; and
to consider any other relevant matters.
The committee invited submissions up to 1 July 2023 in relation to these matters.
A submission to the Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework
Dear members of the Committee
Thank you for extending this opportunity to offer my thoughts in relation to the work of the Inquiry.
That item within the Terms of Reference that my submission primarily addresses is:
“Whether existing mechanisms to protect human rights in the federal context are adequate and if improvements should be made, including:
to the remit of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights;
the role of the Australian Human Rights Commission;
the process of how federal institutions engage with human rights, including requirements for statements of compatibility”
It is my impression that the Australian Human Rights Commission exercises some, if not most, of its responsibilities through a lens of fashionable ‘woke’ assumptions, beliefs and ideologies, including those associated with gender feminism. I do not believe that this should be the case. I believe that the rights and the welfare of all substantial demographic groups within the Australian community should be equally and accurately acknowledged, valued and supported.
The online sources listed in this document, drafted by me unless indicated otherwise, form the bulk of my submission to the Inquiry.
Gender matters are most likely touched upon by all Commissioners, but the focus in this regard centres upon the work of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. All those staff appointed to this position have, to date, been female – which I believe to have been inappropriate.
I think I am correct in stating that at least the last two incumbents declared themselves to be determined and committed followers of feminist ideology. I would suggest that partly as a consequence of this, during that time no significant programs were undertaken by the Commission in which the primary focus was on the rights and welfare of men and boys. I have sought to clarify this belief via requests for confirmation addressed to the Commission, an example of which is provided on the final page of this submission.
I discuss this perceived gender bias at the commission in the following blog posts:
I note also the Commission’s submission to this current Inquiry wherein readers undertaking a word search on the terms ‘man’ and ‘woman’ will find 0 instances of the former, and yet 22 instances of the latter.
If my observation is correct then the question must be asked as to why such a marked imbalance – a clear example of actual sex discrimination – is considered to be acceptable. Feminists appear inclined to excuse double-standards like this on the basis of an assertion that women are substantially worse off than men, and have been for much of history. I reject such a view entirely, and if the relevant government agencies were willing to undertake the appropriate reporting then the actual situation regarding the genders might finally be made clearer for all. Instead, and for the time being, the widespread occurrence of Gamma Bias and of heads deeply buried in the sand shall continue to prevail.
I further believe that those groups and individuals consulted by the Commission should not be filtered or excluded on the basis of the degree to which their beliefs happen to align with those of the Commissioners and their staff.
I would note that for several years now I have been blocked from accessing a social media account of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, although not the Twitter account operated by the Commission as a corporate entity. This blocking of information sources and alternative perspectives has become a common occurrence in pro-feminist web sites and/or news outlets. I believe this behaviour to be unhelpful and inappropriate, and doubly so in the case of publicly-funded organisations. This subject, and my associated dealings with the Human Rights Commission, are addressed in the following two blog posts:
Here’s a link to the tweet that alerted me to a study produced by staff from various Australian academic & pro-feminist lobbyist organisations. Goodness, you had to wade deeply into wokist waffle to come across a finding that the researchers were obviously not wishing to have trumpeted from the rooftops.
See this series of related tweets from staff of the One in Three organisation, for further details regarding the study.
As and when I find time to launch myself back into this matter, I will expand this post accordingly. But for now, simply FYI.
Yesterday I noticed that I had been barred from accessing the Twitter feed of the Diversity Council of Australia (@DivCouncilAus). I wrote to them seeking details of their basis for taking such action:
“Good afternoon
I am writing to you today having just noticed that I have been blocked from your Twitter feed.
My Twitter account is @Fighting4Fair. I would be interested to know why, and whether this shall be a temporary or permanent situation.
If I had posted threatening or vulgar material then I would totally understand your response, but that would not appear to be the case.
Would you kindly provide a URL to information regarding DCA rules in relation to your staff, members and others use of your social media accounts? If there are no such rules then perhaps I could trouble you to advise me as to how blocking my input aids, or is even consistent with, your goals in relation to diversity and inclusion?
One separate parting query if I might … I would be fascinated to learn how the gender balance of ‘Our Team’ (re: https://www.dca.org.au/about-dca/our-team) is consistent with those self same goals.
I look forward to hearing from you in due course …”
(Postscript: It’s now many weeks later and still no response. I also sent a note to the CEO of DCA, Lisa Annese, seeking the provision of their guidelines in relation to the management of social media accounts. If and when I receive a reply to that note, I will post a copy here.)
“There’s a lot of men suffering the same Abraham, men are less likely to report it though. Its a two way street. I found it degrading after having my bipolar partner restrained by police to be put in an ambulance, that the literature given to me and having called the help line, that it was all geared towards women. Even the men’s help line, when called and told of being involved in domestic abuse, being questioned about what I’d done to abuse her.
You know when she’s off tap and I’m being pushed to the limits, I could just knock her block off, I can handle myself, if it was a bloke doing it, it wouldn’t even be an issue, but its a woman and mother of my children, I’m better than that. My kids have had to witness it for years, they even ask how i endure it without retaliating. But its my job to be their role model, not sport stars or entertainers. I stay composed, controlled. I was safer in Afghanistan or Iraq. It’s time for men to stand up and be more vocal. I’ll start it off.”
“Its not the violence although she has slashed my car tyres to stop me from leaving and has threatened me with a knife on many occasions. It’s the threats to kill herself, or ringing my work, or on many occasions showing up at work because I won’t do exactly what she asks. Several suicide attempts, what am i to tell my kids if I stay at work and she rings and tells me she’s taken an overdose and i keep working. The ambulance wont come on their own anymore when she loses it, the police have to come, because she is violent to the ambulance driver. I’d post videos, but I don’t want her identified on the internet. My kids have been embarrassed enough, they don’t need all their friends knowing.
I said I would start this off, all my friends on here know now, but no-ones going to use it to try get to me, most are smart enough to know better. Like I said if it was a male that was threatening me it wouldn’t be an issue, I did my time in conflict zones, I can handle myself. My pay goes into an account she controls, I get an allowance. I got my pay put into my own account awhile back and she went to our head office and made a scene, nearly got me sacked. So I changed it back to stop her going back. My boss has said to me how I manage to be early every day, get through my day and churn out a high standard work is beyond him. Never late, never take a day off, always try to be upbeat. I do what i do because i am my kids role model, not some sports star or celebrity, I set a standard, I tell them not to react, stay calm and I practice what I preach. (Source)
“I have encountered similar violence by a wife towards her husband and I can promise you, it’s no laughing matter. Especially when men are often brought up to never lift a hand up against a woman. Thankfully, they are no longer together, but she still has most custody of their beautiful little boy. She has gone out of her way to use the son to hurt him, but thankfully family, friends and even a judge has seen through her and have provided him with much needed support. He is a lovely dad who was snared by a vicious, vindictive woman” (Source)
Man stabbed in the neck in alleged domestic attack (15 April 2019) As others have pointed out, none of the articles about this incident used the term ‘domestic violence’ (as is now typically the case when men are injured or killed by their partners)
“Predictably the top comment is from a woman ridiculing the incident. He doesn’t sound a particularly great husband but would you have found it as amusing if a man had ripped off his wife’s breast because she wasn’t a good wife? Nope, didn’t think so. The comments here just show the gulf in society’s attitudes towards violence to men and women from the opposite sex.”
“The number of women convicted for domestic violence rose by 30% in the year to April 2015, from 3,735 to 4,866. It marks an upward trend – the number of convictions involving female perpetrators is now six times higher than it was ten years ago”
In a comment he contributed to this article, Chad Tindale wrote:
“Police were once called because my girlfriend, at the time, was stabbing the bathroom door (behind which I was locked) with a knife. When the police arrived, she was still drunk, and still holding the knife. They told us to keep it down so that they didn’t have to come back… then they left me there… with her… with the knife. You’re not a hero when you rescue a man from a woman, so it’s often just easier to leave them there… leave them with her… with the knife.”
Young people and domestic violence (2001) This government study includes an interesting comparison of the number of children who have witnessed dad hitting mum, and vice versa (incl. Table 4.23)
On Saturday 22 October 2022 I sent two emails to an Australian tertiary educational institution regarding financial assistance and support programs that they provided to female students. Here is the first one that I sent:
Would you please confirm that there is no corresponding Men in Engineering scholarship. Assuming that there is not, would you kindly advise why a scholarship is maintained for women as it would seem to be inconsistent with current consensus regarding gender equality. I look forward to hearing back from you in due course.”
On 24 October 2022 they duly replied:
“Dear Mr. X,
QUT strives to create an equal, equitable and diverse teaching and research environment that is fully inclusive for all people. We are not a complete community until all individuals are included and afforded opportunity, regardless of their backgrounds, characteristics, beliefs and circumstances.
The Gender Equity and Diversity in STEMM Action Plan reflects QUT’s long-term commitment to addressing the under-representation of women, trans and gender-diverse people in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) disciplines.
Based on this action plan, women in engineering scholarship are committed to support people who identify as a woman, and increase the number of graduating female engineers, which at the moment is only 15% of all of the engineering students. This scholarship will help build a cohort of female future leaders in engineering professions.
However, there are other ongoing scholarships, that students who are not identifying as women are able to apply:
The second email I sent was similar, but was sent to the university’s ‘Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion Manager’ and focused on one particular page in their website.
(Postscript: 6 January 2023, and thankfully a further response has come to hand … )
“QUT does offer a number of scholarship that are not gender specific including academic, equity and industry-funded (currently being updated for 2023) and they can be found here. QUT – Scholarships
Engineering has a long history of being a male-dominated profession. In several disciplines and areas of practice such as biomedical engineering, much progress has been made on this front. However, in other disciplines such as mechanical engineering the number hasn’t moved much in 30 or more years. I graduated in mechanical engineering in 1993 with only a few other females in my cohort of around 120. And the numbers haven’t improved significantly since then and neither has the aggregate proportion of qualified professional engineers who are female, which is still low at 13% (and the proportion of female engineers who are working in an engineering role is at 11%). (cited Jane MacMaster, FIEAust EngExec CPEng MRAeS Chief Engineer, Engineers Australia Women in engineering | Engineers Australia pp4)
With women severely unrepresented in the engineering work force QUT sets out to increase and support the number of females studying engineering by building a strong support program for students including engineering scholarships.
The scholarship program includes mentoring, flagship Engineers Australia events such as the Women in Engineering Annual Dinner, Young Engineers Australia Executive Breakfasts, GEMS student club events, National Association of Women in Construction events and Alumni panel and industry workshops.
The ongoing women in engineering program connects and showcases the opportunities for women in the engineering industry to help solve local and global challenges. It also encourages young people to consider an engineering career, join and invest in engineering and become the future of engineering.
We offer many funding and engagement opportunities to all of our Engineering students at QUT however to address the gender imbalance in the engineering industry we seek to provide a program that not only supports women but also encourages new entrants into the field of engineering.
I hope this responds to your query and if you are seeking additional research on Women in Engineering please let me know and I will send it through.
Kind regards”
Other posts in this blog that are relevant to this subject:
Sometime things happen in your life that you remember many years later. And you wonder why. Here are four that happened to me:
The time I shared a meal with an African-American
The time I almost didn’t hire a guy who was different
The time I was a guest in the home of an Aboriginal family
The time I lived in Asia as a member of an Asian family
My African-American dinner guests
American’s might be puzzled by this one, but you don’t see a whole lot of African-Americans in an Australian city. As a consequence most Australians have a picture of African-Americans manufactured by media and the entertainment industry.
The husband worked for the USA consulate, and I think perhaps his wife did too. He had a benign sounding job title but the vibes he gave off had me imagining him chasing Jason Bourne. The two of them were probably the most articulate and polite people I have ever had at my dinner table.
My Iranian right-hand-man
In my first ever job (local government) I was tasked to create a work group of four to be managed by yours truly. I was in my early 20’s. One of the applicants stood out as somewhat unusual. He was Iranian, in his mid-40’s, and had a PhD. I wondered how I would manage and whether he would work in with the others in the team. I talked to my boss, and he encouraged me to give the guy a chance.
Fast forward many years. Farrokh was the best right-hand-man/colleague I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Initiative, creativity, reliability, productivity, patience … measured anyway you like.
Visiting indigenous folks
The first time I visited Cairns (North Queensland) I somehow got myself invited to have a coffee at the home of a local family. Again, and like many Australians, my only experience dealing with Aboriginals was avoiding substance-abusers at railway stations, or watching a succession of grifters on TV bad-mouthing (non-aboriginal) Australians whilst helping themselves to untold millions of taxpayer revenue.
The family I visited were nice. They were friendly and hospitable. Their home was just like most Australian homes I had visited. They were ordinary Australians.
Turning Asian
I lived for a time in an Asian country. Before that I had only had the briefest of visits to that part of the world. I learnt a lot there. About their culture and, subsequently, about ours. For example I learnt that concepts like ‘common sense’ and ‘good manners’ were not universal … they were specific to the country or region. So just because people didn’t act in accordance with the Aussie model of good manners, didn’t mean they were ill-mannered. It just meant that they were following their own version. Or sometimes they were ignoring both versions. Just like we do sometimes.
Conclusion
All four events at least somewhat surprised me at the time they happened. Why? No doubt someone out there will offer a theory.
As a consequence of these experiences, do I feel that:
all members of these various sub-sets of society are wonderful people?
that we should throw open the doors of Australia that everyone might settle here?
that I am guilty for something my ancestors did, or are alleged to have done to the group in question?
Not one bit. In fact, woke begone!
I do however better recognise that in the absence of first-hand experience, we do rely a lot on the media to form our opinions of others for us. And that the media often presents a distorted and incomplete image.
An underwear model has revealed the clever way he gets back at women who send him vile, sexist abuse over social media.
Cloud News contributor Frank Brown says online harassment is not a “celebrity problem” but a “human problem”, and the “atrocities” online impact the youth more than anyone else.
Model Sandy Stone has plenty of admirers, and it’s not hard to see why.
But among his 8.6 million Instagram followers are a few sexist trolls who slide into his DMs and hurl horrific abuse – and unfortunately for them, The Moon reports, they don’t realise who they’re dealing with.
Stone was already pretty used to women’s bad behaviour by the time he found success as a model.
Speaking to The Moon, the 31-year-old recalled how he was targeted as a teenager.
“At 18 years old, I worked at Chippendales in Louisiana and I didn’t know the can of worms that would open,” he said.
“People would take photos of me and I would be berated on the internet, way before Instagram. Talking about my body type, making up personal relationships.
“I would just be repeatedly abused. I was told I needed plastic surgery, that I’d had plastic surgery. I was told every contradiction under the sun just to abuse me.”
Fast forward over a decade later, and he’s had to develop a thick skin to deal with some of the women who message him on social media.
He’s experienced “cruel haters, abuse, scary people, people praying for my demise”.
“Some people will message me every single day psycho stuff. Threats,” he said, calling the messages “mean” and “obnoxious”.
“The majority of the abusive content on the internet is from women. Men really do not actively seek to harm me as much.”
He recalled one particular woman who worked for a well-known company and “kept sending me disturbing messages”.
“And one day I’d had enough. I looked up her LinkedIn and posted those messages to her workplace,” he said.
Stone, 31, has received “disturbing” messages and comments about his looks from a young age.
“Because I truly feared that she worked with men and I couldn’t imagine someone who was so obsessed with violence toward men working with and controlling the paychecks of men.
“I went ahead and told her boss … they responded publicly and said they would look into it. She had to have been fired.”
Stone admitted he will take similar action if he gets abusive messages from women who work in schools or around children.
The odd thing, of course, is that these women seem to like looking at his social media content – yet they don’t treat him with respect.
He said that women seem to get especially angry when they see a man who is making money off his body or good looks.
That’s even though they don’t seem to have the same issue if women are making money off of men’s looks, he noted.
He said he gets “psycho” messages and comments “every single day” online.
“A significant amount of industry has benefited from the handsomeness of men. Beer, football, cars, luxury anything, and even female celebrities,” he said.
“They’ve used the bodies and strength of men in music videos, in movies, and in magazines. It’s only a problem if men are paid directly for their own looks.
“They’re offended when a man makes the money and doesn’t have to pay a woman through it. It’s such an obsolete idea.”
But, he stresses that there should be nothing wrong with a man making money off his looks – especially in a “matriarchal society in which men are not represented fairly in government, in business, in politics”.
“Men have to do what they can to make some cash, and hopefully they use their voice while they make some cash,” he said.
“In my opinion, men deserve money first. Men need to equalise the financial playing field first so that we have an ecosystem to support each other so we’re paid for our talents beyond our appearance.”
Footnote: This is a bogus media item based on a gender-swapped version of this article published on 26 July 2022. The purpose of doing so is to highlight the double-standards and ridiculous level of entitlement displayed by media and some of the female subjects of their attention.
The mainstream media would never publish this article (concerning male subject), and if they did, can you imagine the reaction? For example, the calls for sanctions against the ‘threatening’ and ‘abusive’ male model? His ‘toxic masculinity’ clearly needs to be addressed!
Meanwhile, are men ever asked whether they consent to being bombarded with images of partially-clad or unclad women? Not at all, men are meant to be pathetically grateful to be exposed to this stuff. Just the idea that they perhaps should be asked to confirm their willingness to receive this endless barrage of women posting their personal pics would be considered (by many) to be laughable. Don’t those men realise how lucky they are?
But imagine the reaction if hundreds of guys started distributing their dick-pics online? <chorus> Oh, but that’s different! Creepy! Threatening! Perverse!
And finally, one last point to be made in relation to the original article, is that women are more likely to disseminate gossip and online abuse about other women than are men.
I received an email on 21 June 2022 advising me of the following. No mention of any opportunities for men – I guess that will follow later …
“The first Women’s Opportunity Statement was published today alongside the NSW Budget 2022-23. The Statement sets out the NSW Government’s plans to make New South Wales the best place in Australia for women to live, work and raise a family, and commits $5.6 billion towards outcomes for women and $10.9 billion towards children’s education and development outcomes over the next 10 years. The Statement draws on the findings of the Women’s Economic Opportunities Review, and the advice of the Expert Reference Panel, chaired by Sam Mostyn. A letter from the Review’s Expert Panel to the NSW Treasurer was also published today.
The Statement sets out the following five strategic priority areas of reform:
Increase women’s workforce participation
Improve the experience of women in the workforce
Support women in small business and entrepreneurs
Support and raise awareness of women’s health needs
Respect for women and women’s financial security
Alongside the Statement, we have also released the NSW Treasury Technical Research Paper Women’s economic opportunities in the NSW labour market and the impact of early childhood education and care, which sets out NSW Treasury research on the key drivers of unequal outcomes between women and men in the labour market, as well as the modelling approach used to assess the package of early childhood education and care reforms announced by the NSW and Commonwealth Governments.
