Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy wants controversial sex therapist Bettina Arndt stripped of her Order of Australia award – calling it an “insult”.
Ms Arndt, 70, was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on Sunday “for significant service to the community as a social commentator and to gender equity through advocacy for men”.
But Ms Hennessy, who is also the Victorian minister for workplace safety, said she was alarmed at the appointment in 2020 Australia Day Honours.
She has written to Governor-General David Hurley seeking to have it overturned.
“Taking into account Ms Arndt’s well-documented opinions, public commentary and media appearances – which include sympathising with a convicted paedophile and blaming and shaming victims – this award is an insult to victims of sexual abuse and to those of us who work hard every day to prevent it,” she wrote in the letter, which was posted to her Facebook page.
Ms Hennessy also pointed to Ms Arndt’s controversial views on family violence.
“I would ask that the Council of the Order of Australia consider cancellation of Ms Arndt’s award given that her public commentary brings the Order into disrepute and in particular that it attaches the Order’s tacit support to her views,” she wrote.
On Thursday, the Labor minister doubled down on her calls on ABC radio.
She told host Virginia Trioli that she felt compelled to write to General Hurley – even though Ms Arndt is a NSW resident – after pleas from child abuse victims.
“I had been contacted by a range of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse who felt such outrage and insult to their experience, that I felt I had to take some action to give voice to that,” she said.
“We very strongly take up our responsibilities as advocates for victims of child sexual abuse, and that’s been a very firm area of reform for our government.”
Shame on Victoria's first law officer, Jill Hennessy, the Victorian Attorney General for responding to muckraking from ideologues rather than seeking proper evidence. The Age tells me Hennessy has written to the Governor General asking for my AM to be revoked.
— Bettina Arndt (@thebettinaarndt) January 29, 2020
But Ms Arndt, who also spoke on Trioli’s radio show on Thursday, said she was the victim of a smear campaign led by journalist Nina Funnell, with whom she has a long-running feud.
Funnell has spent her career exposing archaic laws around sexual assault and the issues of campus rape. She recently co-wrote a New Matilda investigation into Ms Arndt, claiming the sex therapist had misled the public about being a practising psychologist and doctor.
Ms Ardnt said “as soon as my award was announced, she went in to bat, spreading half-truths, using selected abstracts from videos I’ve made to malign me and defame me in every way possible”.
Ms Arndt said she sought to discuss the “real picture” of domestic violence, “where our official evidence shows at least a third of the victims are male”.
“That is the real cause of the outrage here — that I have been telling the truth about what’s happening, not only in terms of domestic violence … [but] on a range of issues where men are not getting fair treatment,” she said.
Ms Arndt has strongly denied to New Matilda that she had ever sought to intentionally mislead people about her profession. The publication said she acknowledged that she is not a psychologist or clinical psychologist – “despite hundreds of representations to the contrary”.
Tweet from @Ahpra
This week, Australian Psychological Society president Ros Knight said misleading people about being a registered health professional presented a “significant risk”.
“They often work with the most vulnerable members of society,” she said.
The New Daily understands that at least one speaker’s agency has this week removed its web page spruiking Ms Arndt. It stressed that it was because she had not been booked for 16 years.
Sexual assault survivors have also condemned the decision to award Ms Arndt an AM, with End Rape on Campus founder, Sharna Bremner previously telling TND she felt sick when she learned of it.
“I honestly felt sick, physically ill,” she said.
“She has spent the past few years attempting to make a name for herself by offending sexual abuse survivors and championing offenders.
“I think giving her the award is a kick in the guts to anyone who has been sexually assaulted – one in five women in Australia and one in 16 men.”
-with AAP
The post Victorian AG joins push to strip Bettina Arndt of Australia Day honour appeared first on The New Daily.
**Business and Marketing support on best price; Hit the link now----> http://bit.ly/2HsQmSi