The Australian lower house of parliament has voted overwhelmingly to strip licencing power for an abortion drug from a health minister unable to separate his private religion from his public duty (so overwhelmingly that there wasn’t even a vote – which was a bit of a pity really -it would be nice to have the numbers. The picture of two women parliamentarians, from different parties, celebrating with champagne, is a powerful argument for more women in parliament – when it comes to the crunch they can at least sometimes make a real difference.
Former Victorian premier Joan Kirner said the decision was “almost as important as the right to equal pay”.
“In my generation in the Parliament it was still the blokes making the decisions and mainly doing deals between themselves, as in the Harradine case, rather than involving the people who were most affected by the decision, and that is women. This time it was women leading the debate …”
And a judge has order that anti-Iraq war protesters who painted their message on the Sydney Opera House should get their pot of paint back – it is thought likely headed for a museum. Nice to see history being preserved for posterity.
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