Chief executive of What Were You Wearing – the group that organised the anti-domestic violence marches over the weekend – has slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for lying and making her experience at the march traumatic.
Yesterday at the Canberra march calling for action to end violence against women, organiser Sarah Williams was visibly upset as the prime minister responded to her demand that he declare domestic violence a national emergency.
Rally organiser Sarah Williams looks away as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the event calling for an end to violence against women, in Canberra on Sunday.Credit: AAP
Albanese began his speech at the march saying: “we did ask to speak, myself and Katy [Gallagher], and were told that wasn’t possible and that’s fine, I respect the organisers’ right to do that.”
Williams told Seven’s Sunrise this morning Albanese “flat-out lied” when he made that comment.
“They said they weren’t coming to speak, just coming to walk in solidarity. I actually asked him and the office if he would speak, if he could commit. They said, ‘look, it’s a bit too busy, but Katy Gallagher would happily speak’,” she said.
“Him coming out and saying he … asked to speak and [was] denied was really upsetting. It was quite traumatic for me but [also] for everyone in the audience, all victim-survivors across the country. Our prime minister just flat-out lied on a national scale in front of the whole country.”
Williams said she would struggle to trust Albanese to make any concrete change to address violence against women after the way he approached the march.
“The fact that he left straight away, he didn’t stay for any of the speakers and then, you know, straight away, there were posts on all the Instagrams saying it was amazing … that wasn’t the case at all,” she said.
“I think Australia … will really struggle with trusting our prime minister, trusting our current government. We have an election next year, they’re really going to have to regain our trust.”
Source Agencies
