‘Not Safe For Women’: Speakers Pull Out of Women Rights Rally in Canberra Over Fears For Safety

Women's rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull speaks during a “Let Women Speak” rally in opposition to government legislation making it easier for people to self-identify their gender, fearing it would allow sexual predators to gain access to women-only spaces, in Glasgow, Scotland, on Feb. 5, 2023. Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images

Australian campaigners for women’s rights have cited safety fears as the reasoning behind their decision to pull out of the Let Women Speak rally in Australia’s capital city Canberra on March 23.

The Australian Let Women Speak rallies, organised by women rights advocate Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (also known as Posie Parker), have been plagued by controversy over the past week after a rally in Melbourne was marred by violence and gatecrashed by a group of protesters who performed a Nazi salute. Another rally in Hobart was drowned out by LGBTQIA+ protesters.

Senator Claire Chandler, who was due to speak at the Canberra rally, said in a post on Facebook that she would not be speaking at the event because she was concerned there was no assurance that it would be safe for women to attend. She also noted that the media had not reported not one word from the speakers at the rallies.

“In recent years, I’ve been contacted by countless Australian women who have shared their stories with me about why single-sex spaces are so important to them. Many of these stories are distressing and heartbreaking. But the women who have bravely shared them aren’t being heard. Their experiences are not being taken into account by those making decisions,” Chandler said in the social media post.

“It seemed to me that a Let Women Speak event was a perfect opportunity to draw attention to what these women are saying.

“Sadly, I no longer feel that delivering this speech in Canberra on Thursday will enable these voices to be heard. I haven’t seen a single word of a speech given at the last two events reported by Australian media, with the entire focus consumed by those there to disrupt and scream over the top of women trying to speak about their rights or, in the case of the Melbourne event, to hijack the event and the media attention for their own abhorrent purposes.”

Chandler has previously noted on Facebook that she had spoken to thousands of Australian women who were concerned about laws that enable males to enter female sports, facilities and spaces.

“Protecting single-sex female services is a completely mainstream and widely supported position,” Chandler said. “Many of the women who advocate for female single-sex spaces are victims of sexual abuse or male violence. Many are women from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Much of the public commentary over the last 48 hours blaming women for the actions of dangerous men has been disgusting and defamatory.”

Police Accused of Failing to Protect

The Australian reported that former liberal candidate Katherine Deves said the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were derelict in their duty and alleged that they had refused to provide an assurance to organisers it would keep the Keen camp physically distanced from pro-transgender protesters.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the AFP on the allegations.

“Seeing what’s happened in the other two cities (Melbourne and Hobart), that the police would be prepared to allow the counter-protesters to get within arm’s length and spitting distance from us is a dereliction of duty,” Deves said.

“I don’t trust the police to keep us safe, and I think the threat of mob violence is so great I need to put my safety first.”

Australian Media Accused of Ignoring Women’s Rights in Favor of Controversy

The Australian media has also been criticised for failing to discuss the rallies and support women, with Liberal Party Senator Alex Antic calling for the media to show support for the embattled Liberal Victorian state MP Moira Deeming after she spoke at a rally for women’s rights in Melbourne on March 18.

Speaking in the Senate on March 20, he said that the rally held in Melbourne which was overtaken by the Nazi protest, was designed to let women speak about their concerns around biological men being able to access spaces like bathrooms and women’s sports.

“The movement is rightfully concerned about biological men undermining the integrity of women’s sports and spaces such as bathrooms. They’re absolutely correct to be concerned; I am too,” he said.

“It’s a shameful reflection on the lazy partisan media and our political classes that Ms Deeming would be vilified for something over which she had absolutely no control. How is this different from a member of the Australian Labor Party or the Australian Greens attending a rally for Palestine, which is descended upon by antisemitic or union thugs? The answer to that is it’s no different at all.

“The only thing that’s different here is the media, and the political class cannot find the requisite spine to stand for a principle. Is this the low-water mark of our free speech and our democracy, to now be defined by those who gatecrash an event?”

Trans-Rights Advocates Call For More Protections

Meanwhile, the controversy has also sparked calls for anti-vilification laws to protect the LGBTIQ+ community.

“There are currently no federal laws and no laws in Victoria, South Australia or Western Australia protecting LGBTIQ+ people from vilification. Only vilification based on race (and in Victoria, also based on religion) is prohibited in these places,” a coalition of trans, LGBTIQ+, multicultural, women’s and other civil society organisations Equality Australia said.

CEOs of Transgender Victoria and Transcend Son Vivienne and Jeremy Wiggins said: “Surely, we can agree that whatever our personal or political beliefs, we share a human desire for mutual respect?

“Anti-vilification laws are one way to protect humanity against violence, hate and bigoted ideologies that hurt all people, but especially those at the intersections of stigmatised gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, faith, class and disability.

“Transgender Victoria and Transcend believe in standing for common decency and compassion, and we call upon state and federal governments to strengthen legal protections against hate.”