AustLit

'On an overcast Monday in March 2021, ten thousand people flooded into Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens for the March4Justice. It was a public outpouring of rage in response to a belated #MeToo moment within Australian federal politics. After sexual assault campaigner Grace Tame was named Australian of the Year, former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins went public with allegations she had been raped in Parliament House. Mere weeks later, a historic rape allegation against Attorney-General Christian Porter hit the headlines. To all appearances, the scourge of sexual violence was running rampant within the highest offices in the country. In Treasury Gardens, the crowd voiced their disgust, joining a chorus of 110,000 at over forty events across the country. Many of those holding signs were older women, veterans of Women’s liberation, who expressed dismay that – five decades on – they were still protesting rape and gendered violence. From beneath the plane trees, march organisers led the Melbourne crowd in a rendition of Helen Reddy’s 1972 single ‘I Am Woman’. The anthem of women’s lib was back to rouse the masses once more.'  (Introduction)