Directly or indirectly, we've all been affected by sexual assault.
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Whether we realise it or not; whether we're male or female.
We all know survivors - they're our family, our friends, our colleagues. Some of them we aren't even aware have suffered.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a staggering one in five Australian women and one in twenty men aged 18 years and over have experienced sexual violence.
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And that's not taking into account sexual harassment, itself a kind of violence. One in two Australian women and one in four men have experienced it in their lifetime.
These figures are a national shame. Stamping out sexual assault and harassment in our community needs to be made a priority. Because, despite what politicians may tell us, I'm not convinced it currently is.
And never have I been less convinced than in the last three weeks.
Last month, former Liberal adviser Brittany Higgins bravely spoke up about her alleged rape by a fellow staffer in the parliamentary office of her ex-boss, then defence industries minister Linda Reynolds, in Canberra in 2019.
The political response to Higgins' allegations has been lacklustre at best, and negligent at worst.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's now infamous "as a father" comments the day after the Higgins story broke served to highlight the deeply entrenched cultural problem we have in Australia around sexual assault.
After being accused of not taking action immediately after Higgins' allegations were aired, the PM said he'd spoken to his wife about the matter.
"Jenny and I spoke last night and she said to me, you have to think about this as a father," he said. "What would you want to happen if it were our girls?"
"Jenny has a way of clarifying things. Always has. And so, as I've reflected on that overnight and listened to Brittany and what she had to say."
Morrison went on to say he wanted "any young woman working in [Parliament House] ... as safe as possible, as I would want for my own daughters".
Stamping out sexual assault and harassment in our community needs to be made a priority. Because, despite what politicians may tell us, I'm not convinced it currently is.
As others more qualified than I have argued, one shouldn't have to be a father of daughters to empathise with women, to know that an immediate and decisive response is required when it emerges that an alleged rape occurred inside Parliament House.
Tasmania's Grace Tame, the 2021 Australian of the Year, put it best this week when she told the National Press Club: "It shouldn't take having children to have a conscience. And actually, on top of that, having children doesn't guarantee a conscience."
You only have to look at the statistics to see there's a good chance you know someone like Higgins.
Sure, it could be your daughter or your wife. But it's just as likely the friendly cashier who served you at your local supermarket this morning. Or your local MP whose electorate office you pass on the way home from work every night.
You shouldn't have to engage in mental gymnastics to conjure empathy for survivors. They are all around us. Scores of them.
I don't presume to know what it's like to be one. But I can appreciate that, for them, the last few weeks would have been hell.
There's been ubiquitous round-the-clock news coverage about Higgins' story and the reaction to it in Canberra. And that was before a second story broke.
Allegations that an unnamed Cabinet minister raped a teenage girl in 1988 surfaced last week in an ABC report. The alleged victim, a South Australian woman, had told her story to NSW Police but went on to inform them that she didn't want to proceed with the complaint, before taking her own life last year.
On Wednesday, we learnt that the subject of the allegations was Attorney-General Christian Porter, accused by the alleged victim of raping her after a school debating event in Sydney in 1988, when she was 16 and he 17.
Delivering a statement before a phalanx of cameras, a tearful Porter vehemently denied the claims and said he would not stand aside while a further investigation was conducted into the allegations.
He is, of course, entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Morrison yesterday told reporters that if the South Australian Coroner's Office decided to hold a coronial inquest into the alleged victim's death, he would support it.
It's essential that some form of investigation occurs here. Because what sort of message would it send if the allegations weren't probed further?
The family and friends of the woman at the centre of this should be afforded closure. As should survivors of sexual assault everywhere.
Without it, the message is loud and clear: if one is to come forward with claims like this, one shouldn't expect resolution.
And if that's what we take away from this, then what chance do we have of addressing the rape culture in this country?
No chance in hell.
Sexual Assault Support Service: 1800 697 877.
Lifeline: 13 11 44.
- Rob Inglis is a journalist with Australian Community Media
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