Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Women, Senator Payne. Today, hundreds of thousands of Australian women are marching for justice, raising their voices, saying, 'Enough is enough' and that sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault must stop. Instead of joining these women, just metres from the front entrance, the Minister for Women sat in this chamber for the debate on a bill she had no responsibility for. Why?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the exercise of open democracy that all those who have participated in today, men and women, have taken up to provide their views both in demonstration and through the form of a petition. The parliament and the government will, of course, give appropriate consideration to the March 4 Justice petition.

The process of parliament and of being a minister means that we meet with hundreds of people every year in the parliament. It's the responsibility of any elected government to form positions on those important issues by working through those carefully as a government and through the parliament. It is what we are elected to do. It's our responsibility to listen to the concerns of all Australians. Both the Prime Minister and I have sought to do that with organisers of today's protest directly and to hear from them directly in a number of ways. I do take those concerns very seriously, as do my coalition colleagues. The Prime Minister's offer of that meeting with organisers still stands.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong, a supplementary question?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Instead of listening to the hundreds of thousands of women marching for justice by joining them on the lawns in front of Parliament House, the Prime Minister remained in this building. Why?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the Prime Minister has said in his comments on this matter that it is not his usual approach to engage in action such as that outside the chamber. That is not his usual approach. But he has on a number of occasions, with a number of different representatives of community and on a number of different issues, always sought to offer the opportunity for a private meeting directly with the Prime Minister—the highest office holder in our system, the highest office holder in this country. In the context of this process, he has done the same. He has offered that opportunity to those who have organised today's protest and to those who wish to raise these issues.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong, a final supplementary question?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Brittany Higgins spoke at the March 4 Justice on the Parliament House lawns today. She spoke with great courage. She said: 'This isn't a political problem. It is a human problem.' Will the Morrison government stop treating this as a political issue and start listening to Australian women—

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I need to be able to hear the question.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

who are saying, across this country, 'Enough is enough'?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have had the opportunity to scan Ms Higgins's remarks, and there is a range of those statements that she has made today with which I agree and, in fact, there are concerns she has raised over recent weeks with which I also agree. It's one of the reasons the government has worked closely with those opposite—indeed, with those around this chamber—in support of the development of an independent review of this workplace, its cultures, its unique qualities, to specifically and directly address these issues. We do take this very, very seriously. We have heard those concerns, and my own personal remarks, which I am very happy to repeat in this chamber, are that we as parliamentarians—all of us—must own these problems. We must own the failings that have enabled these events to occur and we must own the solutions. (Time expired)