Ernie Award Winners: The Most Sexist of them All.
The Ernies have been announced- and if you can count on anything, it’s that without fail, national pandemic or not, there will always be sexist arseholes around to make sexist comments and keep The Ernies in business.
The Ernie Awards for Sexist Behaviour is now in its 29th year, and once again, there was no shortage of nominations. And the winners were …
GOLD
This year’s top winner was awarded to Senator Eric Abetz, a member of the Liberal Party in Tasmania. The knockout comment that helped him take home the award was to the speaker of the Tasmanian Parliament Sue Hickey when asked if Christian Porter was the unidentified minister accused of historical rape. “yes …but not to worry, the woman is dead and the law will protect him…as for that Higgins girl, anybody so disgustingly drunk who would sleep with anybody…she could have slept with one of our spies and put the security of the nation at risk.”
SILVER - INDUSTRIAL CATEGORY
Chief of Defence General Angus Campbell has taken home the industrial silver this year with his comment towards incoming female Australian Defence Force Cadets. While giving advice on how to avoid being the target of a sexual predator he told the women to remember the “four A’s: alcohol, out after midnight, alone, and attractive.”
SILVER - JUDICIAL
Unsurprisingly you will probably remember the winner of the silver judicial Ernie- we’ve talked about this incident, as did most of the internet. Judge Robert Sutherland made headlines everywhere when he wiped the record of Nicholas Drummond after he assaulted and verbally abused a young woman on a night out. The winning comment? A simple “Good luck” he wished to Drummond.
SILVER - POLITICAL
Ah, politics, the home of old, white men making sexist remarks. This year’s runner up position was awarded to none other than our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Which comment was his finest your wondering? None other than when he had to get his wife Jenny to contextualise the rape of Brittany Higgins for him. “Jenny and I spoke last night and she said to me you have to think about this as a father first. What would you want if it were our girls?… Jenny has a way of clarifying things.”
SILVER - MEDIA
This year the silver media Ernie was awarded to South Australia radio host Jeremy Cordeaux who made his winning comment while discussing Brittany Higgins rape allegations. “I just ask myself why the Prime Minister doesn’t call it out for what it is — a silly little girl who got drunk”.
THE WARNEY
If it wasn’t clear The Warney Ernie is the sports category and this year this was taken about by Ricky Stuart, coach of the Canberra Raiders. His winning comment played on the stereotype that netball is less of a game than anything played by a man. “If I can’t have tough conversations with my better players, I might as well coach netball”.
THE FRED
A tie!
The first was awarded to Professor Magnus Nyden, the Dean of Science and Engineering at the Macquarie University who voiced his ideas on why he believes there should not be more women in his field. “a woman is biologically wired to be more concerned about people, and men about things”.
The second winner to take home the award was given to not one man, but an entire school- St Lukes Grammar School who asked the male students to rank the qualities they would look for in a girl. More points were allocated for values such as virginity and appearance than others such as generosity.
THE ELAINE
This Ernie is awarded to the woman who has made the ‘least helpful to the sisterhood’ comment this year and was awarded to not one, but two women.
The first, Senator Linda Reynolds who is the Minister for Defence with the called Brittany Higgins a “lying cow.”
The second to Tenna McQueen, the Federal Liberal Party Vice President for her comment “I would kill to be sexually harassed at the moment.”
THE GOOD ERNIE
This award is reserved for the men who have made some kind of effort to do better towards women- and it is another tie!
Liberal MP Russell Broadbent, who asked the PM to convene a national gathering of women and told all politicians that they need to “need to be quiet, listen and learn” when it came to gender issues in Australian Politics.
And to Richard Hines, an ABC sports reporter, who FINALLY acknowledged that women are held to a higher standard than men. “I’ve no idea whether (Rugby Australia CEO) Raelene Castle was a good CEO or a disaster. I’m 100 per cent certain women in power are still held to a much higher account than men.”
THE TRUMP
This award is given to a repeat offender and I am not surprised in the least that it was awarded to none other than our man in charge, Prime Minister Scott Morrison for three comments.
On the Womens March4Justice: “This is a vibrant liberal democracy Mr Speaker. Not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets, but not here in this country,”
His “Jenny and I spoke last night and she said to me you have to think about this as a father first. What would you want if it were our girls?… Jenny has a way of clarifying things,” comment.
“Well, gee, I bet it felt good to get that out,” His words to Australian of the Year Winner Grace Tame after her speech.
What a great man to be running our country.
My final note to all winners- do fucking better.
