1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,480 Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OZ. 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,480 Speaker 2: Today is Thursday, the tenth of feb I am coming 3 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 2: to you live from under a blanket in Canberra. It 4 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,640 Speaker 2: was a busy day yesterday, lots of news to get through, 5 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 2: so Mariah lattis joining me today from Sydney. 6 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: Tell me what is going on. 7 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 3: Starting off with some Australian news. The Labor Party will 8 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 3: support the Religious Discrimination Bill if amendments are made to 9 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 3: protect LGBTQ plus teachers and students. Labor politicians have reportedly 10 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 3: agreed to back the bill through the House of Representatives 11 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 3: to then make changes when the bill goes through the Senate. 12 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 2: The Victorian Parliament is set to investigate the rise of 13 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 2: far right extremism in the state after a motion for 14 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,840 Speaker 2: an inquiry was approved yesterday. The investigation will particularly look 15 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 2: into how far right extremism affects the state's multicultural communities 16 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 2: and how the groups communicate, as well as some countermeasures. 17 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 2: The inquiry is set to report by the thirty first 18 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 2: of May. 19 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 3: The US Justice Department has seized five billion dollars worth 20 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 3: of stolen bitcoin after Ilia Leichenstein and his wife, Heather 21 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,759 Speaker 3: Morgan were arrested for alleged conspiracy to laund a cryptocurrency 22 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 3: that was stolen during the twenty sixteen hack of bitfinex, 23 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,119 Speaker 3: which is a virtual currency exchange. The recovered stolen funds 24 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 3: are the largest financial seizure to date. 25 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 2: Finally, to some good news for your Thursday, and the 26 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 2: number of electric vehicles sold globally each week is now 27 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 2: roughly equivalent to the sale of electric vehicles for the 28 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 2: entirety of twenty twelve, Around one hundred and thirty thousand 29 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 2: evs are sold each week. This comes, of course, after 30 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 2: the sales of EV's doubled in twenty twenty one compared 31 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 2: to twenty twenty. 32 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 3: Just a trigger warning on this deep dive. It involves 33 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 3: topics around sexual assault and abuse. 34 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: So Zara. 35 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 3: Today, we're talking about the thunderous speeches delivered by Britney 36 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 3: Higgins and Grace Tame at the National Press Club yesterday. 37 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 3: You might have heard them in full flight already, but 38 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 3: if you haven't, here's a snippet. 39 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 4: Last year wasn't a march for acknowledgment. It wasn't a 40 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 4: march for coverage. It wasn't a march for language. It 41 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 4: was a march for justice, and that justice demands real 42 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 4: change in our laws as well as in our language, 43 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 4: in our national culture, as well as our national conversation. 44 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 5: An advocate is only as powerful as their supporters. You 45 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 5: see me here, standing tall, if a little bit broken, 46 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 5: standing on the shoulders of giants, side by side with Brittany, 47 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 5: side by side, with all of you together making change, 48 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 5: making history, but above all else making noise. 49 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 3: The Yeah, so Zara, you were lucky enough to be 50 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 3: there in the room yesterday to hear Brittany and Grace 51 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 3: deliver their speeches, which was I'm sure a huge moment 52 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,799 Speaker 3: to witness. Let's start with Britney Higgins. Can you take 53 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 3: us through her speech and her call to action. 54 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 2: It was a big day, to put it lightly, and 55 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 2: it was an incredible atmosphere. And I'll get to that 56 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 2: a bit later, but if we're to look at Britney's 57 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 2: speech first up, her speech was really a call to action. 58 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 2: As you heard in that clip we just played, She 59 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,839 Speaker 2: basically expressed a worry that this cultural movement that we're 60 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 2: hearing so much about could pass as merely symbolic if 61 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 2: there's no real action. She was really, really firm on 62 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 2: this idea that the March for justice and the movement 63 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 2: that has sprung from it isn't about just changing the 64 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 2: conversation or changing the way we talk about these issues, 65 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 2: but that that talk actually needs to be followed up 66 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 2: by action, and that we haven't really seen that action 67 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 2: so far. She mainly focused in particular on the recommendations 68 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 2: of the Jenkins Review, and I did see Kate Jenkins 69 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 2: in the room vegue yesterday, and that review was into 70 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,839 Speaker 2: the workplace culture into Parliament House, and it called for 71 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 2: recommendations to be implemented in full around how to improve 72 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 2: the workplace for people who faced bullying, sexual harassment or 73 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 2: sexual assault. Brittany also highlighted the National Plan to End 74 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 2: Violence against Women and Children, where again she said the 75 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,159 Speaker 2: problem was not so much a lack of ambition, but 76 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 2: a lack of specificity. She said, specific targets, specific commitments, 77 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 2: and specific action was really missing, and that was the 78 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 2: core of the message. That words done enough without accompanying action. 79 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 3: And then what about Grace Tame. There were a few 80 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 3: different components to her speech, but she also finished with 81 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 3: a call to action too. 82 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: That's right. 83 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 2: So Grace began with a very personal account of the 84 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 2: powerlessness that she and other survivors of child sexual abuse. 85 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: Had experienced at the hands of their. 86 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 2: Abuses, and she contrasted that, I suppose with the power 87 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 2: of the movement of survivors and advocates who are in 88 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,359 Speaker 2: Howard right now and are making their voices heard. She 89 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 2: emphasized how important it is that the movement of survivors 90 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 2: of child sexual abuse remain a broad movement, including both 91 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 2: men and women. And she drew an important distinction that 92 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 2: I thought was really interesting between the conversation around sexual assault, 93 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 2: which she described as a distinctly gendered issue and one 94 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 2: that she was happy to lend her voice to, but 95 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,280 Speaker 2: the distinct conversation around survivors of child sexual abuse, many 96 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 2: of whom are actually male. She cautioned that that nuance 97 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 2: should not get lost. Then the focus shifted to the 98 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 2: Prime Minister, and look, she made quite an extraordinary revelation, 99 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 2: and the whole room you could feel. 100 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: Everybody sort of tense up when she said it. 101 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 2: Grace Haym announced that she had received a call in 102 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 2: August of last year from a senior member of a 103 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 2: government funded organization asking her to not say anything damning 104 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 2: about the Prime Minister. On the evening of the next 105 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 2: Australian of the Year awards. She says, this official and 106 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 2: we don't know who they are or which organization they 107 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 2: came from. Linked that to a quote fear that the 108 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 2: PM had ahead of the next election, and grace Ham 109 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 2: linked back that fear quite strongly to the familiar patterns 110 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:15,160 Speaker 2: of abuse and really to a culture where people in 111 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 2: power fear losing their position and it then leads to 112 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 2: silence and to this not believing of survivors. But as 113 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 2: you mentioned at the top, Mariah, there was a call 114 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 2: to action. So she listed what she described. 115 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: As three main asks. 116 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 2: The first was proactive preventative measures to stop abuse from 117 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 2: happening in the first place. 118 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: The second was. 119 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,599 Speaker 2: Funding for prevention education, and the third it was a 120 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 2: nationally consistent legislation. She's pointed repeatedly to inconsistencies among states 121 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 2: and federal legislation, which grace Ham believes protects abuses, and 122 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 2: that is something that her foundation, the grace Ham Foundation, 123 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 2: is really working to overhaul. So both speeches cover a 124 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 2: lot of ground, but both ended with really really strong 125 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 2: tangible calls for action. 126 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,279 Speaker 3: And finally, can you tell us what was it like 127 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 3: in that room? I know there were government ministers in 128 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 3: the room, How did they respond and what was the 129 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 3: atmosphere like? 130 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 2: I mean, I walked in and the energy was really palpable. 131 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 2: I saw somebody who I knew from previously, who has 132 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 2: been working in women's rights for over fifty years, and 133 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 2: she said that this reminded her of the seventies, of 134 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 2: this mass uprising of women and the strength and empowerment 135 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 2: that came along with that. 136 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: And she said that it really felt the same. 137 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 2: And I mean, obviously I can't confirm or deny that, 138 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,880 Speaker 2: but it certainly felt like something was changing. 139 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 1: It felt like a turning point. There was an. 140 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 2: Entire room full of extremely powerful people, including parliamentarians, there 141 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 2: to listen to two survivors, and those survivors' voices were 142 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 2: front and center and they were not being silenced, and 143 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 2: it was pretty incredible to watch. Although Grace Tme is 144 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 2: no longer our Australian of the Year and Britney Higgins's 145 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 2: case remains in the courts, this is a movement that 146 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 2: doesn't seem like it is going away. It seems like 147 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:14,200 Speaker 2: it is just starting, and it's uniting women and men 148 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 2: across the country, no matter their age or where they 149 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 2: come from. Or where they live, and it was incredible 150 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 2: to watch firsthand, and no doubt even incredible to watch 151 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 2: on the television. That is all we have time for 152 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 2: on today's edition of The Daily Ods. Apologies if the 153 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 2: Under the Blanket quality isn't quite up to scratch, but 154 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 2: we'll be back to normalcy by the end of this week. 155 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: Thank you for your constant support, and. 156 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 2: If you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a review 157 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 2: on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify. It really 158 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 2: helps an independent media organization like the dally Olls grow 159 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 2: and we are forever thankful. 160 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: Have a great day.