Paying Tribute

On 5 July 2013, thanks to the support of five women donors making non tax-deductible donations, the Victorian Women’s Trust placed full-page ads in four major metropolitan newspapers – The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Herald Sun and The Australian, reaching an estimated readership of over three million people. The advertorial  was   translated into Italian, Greek and Mandarin and published in four other papers – Il Globo, La Fiamma, Neos Kosmos and the Sing Tao Daily.

Entitled ‘Credit Where Credit is Due’, the advertorial paid tribute to the minority government led by Julia Gillard, arguing that this term of federal government was a productive and relatively successful period with close to  500 pieces of legislation passed, including landmark bills supporting disability care, action on climate change, education reform, the Murray-Darling River Basin Plan, and the National Broadband Network.

The Event

The advertisement generated an extraordinary and overwhelmingly positive response from many women and men all over the country – suggesting a huge reservoir of Australians who had formed their own evidenced view of this period of government despite the line-up of forces that decried its ‘legitimacy’ and that of the country’s first female prime minister.

With this deep and profound sentiment in mind, the Trust hosted a Melbourne Town Hall event on Sunday 10 November with Julia Gillard as keynote speaker, streamed live to venues nationally and overseas.

Former independent MP Tony Windsor also delivered a major address. The event showcased a stirring rendition by 260 women of ‘Love and Justice’ the women’s anthem, led by composer, Kavisha Mazzella AM and a musical performance of Gillard’s famous misogyny speech to song by Bronwyn Calcutt.