Disgusted: An open letter to Senator Bill Heffernan

Greetings All,

Guess what.... IM ANGRY again! (woo! i hear Spoz say :P)

This morning I logged onto ninemsn in my usual manner so as to check my hotmail account. I'm always intrigued to see what the daily ninemsn newspoll is and laugh at how tragic some of the subject matter is. This morning I was particularly shocked to see today's poll is:

Is Julia Gillard compromised as a leader because she's not a mother?

Having met Ms Gillard only last night (such a classy lady) I was immediately on the defence, I was even more appalled to read the Bulletin article that had lead to this poll in the first place.

Heffernan targets 'barren' Gillard

The Senator has hit a new low by suggesting that Ms Gillard is out of touch with the Australian public because she is 'deliberately barren'.

What a fucking crock!

I was so enraged by this article I was inspired to write to Senator NFI (ie. No Fuckin Idea) and here is a copy of my correspondence:

Dear Mr Heffernan,

I am writing as both a woman and a concerned citizen of this country.

I was shocked and appalled to read the article in The Bulletin magazine today (2nd May, 2007) in which you suggested that Julia Gillard is out of touch with the Australian community because she does not have children. I find your comments in respect to Ms Gillard's ability to be a leader in this country completely unfounded and outrageous.

If anyone is out of touch with the Australian community it is you. It is a woman's prerogative whether or not she has children, and it should in no way reflect on her ability to perform a job. It is people like you who prevent women like Ms Gillard from being respected at work and in our communities and from reaching their full potential, because you and your Neanderthal brethren continue to perpetuate negative images against women for the sake of political point scoring.

Your statements were pathetic, misogynistic relics of the past, and what you have said is not only contrary to discrimination laws in every civilized country, it is deeply offensive to people with modern sensibilities and basic respect for their fellow citizens. You should hang your head in shame.

As an informed voter, your patriarchal and blatantly sexist commentary has convinced me that this country is in serious need of a change in government. Your party will not receive a vote from me or my friends and family at the next election and you only have yourself to blame.

Yours in disgust,

Erin ******

Yes, I know I was never going to vote Liberal in the first place but the point needed to be made that this kind of political point scoring will not be tolerated by the Australian public and will cause people to walk away (if they havent done so already) from a government that is growing increasingly out of touch with its constituents.

I have also sent a similar email to Little Johnnie Howard and await a response from both men in the coming weeks (although I'm not going to hold my breath).

I do want to make it clear that I do realise that my little letter will not change this pathetic little man and that there is a high probability that he wont even read it. However, I'd like to think that if enough people make an issue of it hopefully it will force an apology and a retraction of the statement if not from him, then from JH and his cronies. Further to this it would be heartening to see an outcry from the Australian public that reaffirms we as a nation do not support this sort of backward attitude towards women. Behaviour like this would not be tolerated in a workplace and it should not be tolerated in Australia Politics, any political party that allows this sort of behaviour to go unchecked is in no fit state to run our country as far as I'm concerned.

I encourage you to write to the pathetic little man and you can do so here. Feel free to post your correspondence in this blog for others to read.

Cheers.

UPDATE - 2.50pm....

This just in: an enlightened response from JH as always. Could it be that he won't tell him to apologise because he agrees with the man? Poor form if you ask me.... Weak as piss.

[source: smh.com.au]

"Bill is a very good friend of mine and he remains a very dear friend of mine, but on something like this he's not speaking for me or for the government," Mr Howard told Sky News.

"This business of should (he apologise), I mean people say funny things all the time and the question of whether they apologise for them is a matter for them.

"If she wants to take that up with him, well look, she can.

"But look, I'm not telling people whether they should apologise or not, I'm just stating my own view.

UPDATE: 5.05pm

The bastard has apologised - huzzah!