Federal Member for Forrest Nola Marino has remained tight lipped about the sexual harassment issues plaguing the government over the last two months.
While Ms Marino agreed to meet with March4Justice South West organisers on Monday March 29, she has not responded to the Bunbury Mail's inquiries.
The March4Justice campaign erupted after wake of multiple sexual assault allegations that hit Parliament House in Canberra since February.
The campaign has resulted in protests across the country, including one in Bunbury on March 15.
As part of the efforts from the South West campaign, organisers called on the local federal MP to meet with them.
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March4Justice South West organiser Aoife McGreal said the meeting felt quite hostile but Ms Marino did listen to what they had to say.
"We tried to break things down with our areas of concern on the overall issue of sexual harrassment," Mrs McGreal said.
They requested that the Human Rights Commission 2020 report Respect@Work: Sexual Harrassment National Inquiry recommendations be implemented urgently.
Mrs McGreal said the report had been sitting on a minister's desk for 12 months with nothing done about it.
She said Ms Marino's reply was that the report was 'under consideration'.
"She said that it had to be done properly and not in a piecemeal approach," Mrs McGreal said.
"I was a bit perplexed by that because we thought the recommendations were a holistic approach as it spanned across different workplaces.
"It felt like another excuse to kick the can down the line."
Mrs McGreal also called on Ms Marino to advocate for consent education to be implemented in schools, started at kindergarten age.
"She responded saying that the definition for consent needs to be clear and that it was complex to define," Mrs McGreal said.
"I don't think its complex at all."
Mrs McGreal did say that the federal MP was 'emphatic' that she believed the behaviour that has been revealed within Parliament House was 'unacceptable'.
But Ms Marino said she always had a positive experience in Canberra.
Mrs McGreal said the icing on the cake for the meeting was when they were about to leave the office and a female staffer of the MP asked if empowerment training for women would help.
"I said no, it is a man's problem and they are the ones who should be fixing it," she said.
"I was floored by the question."
As part of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's response to the issues he announced a cabinet re-shuffle earlier in the week.
The changes included the appointment of Marise Payne as women affairs minister who will apply a 'gender equality lens' to the cabinet.
The Prime Minister has also established a taskforce within cabinet in which minister Payne will lead.
"It is her job to bring together this great talent and experience across not just the female members of my cabinet team and the outer ministry and executive, but to draw also in the important contributions, especially in areas such as health and services and aged care and other key important roles that go so much to women's well-being in this country," he said.
Jemillah Dawson
I started as a journalist in 2011 and now manage mastheads in the South West of WA. My passion is politics and sport. I believe we are the voice for the community but also we inform the community of what they need to know. Email jemillah.dawson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
I started as a journalist in 2011 and now manage mastheads in the South West of WA. My passion is politics and sport. I believe we are the voice for the community but also we inform the community of what they need to know. Email jemillah.dawson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
