Alternative Law Journal
|
|
Home
| Databases
| WorldLII
| Search
| Feedback
Alternative Law Journal |
|
Judges, while fond of drag, have never been the best arbiters of women's fashion. In New Zealand a judge has found the government did not act illegally by failing to renew the contract of a senior public servant, Christine Rankin. Ms
Rankin had sued the government in the Employment Court claiming her contract was not renewed because she has a passion for short skirts and big earrings. Other senior civil servants had complained her attire was a 'come on'. The judge Tom Goddard expressed sympathy for her but did not find in her favour.
The achievements and contributions to the legal profession by Queensland's women lawyers was recognised by the inaugural 2001 Woman Lawyer Award in October 2001. In fact, there were two winners. Zoe Rathus received the Queensland Woman Lawyer Award and Kate Kirkpatrick won the Emergent Woman Lawyer Award. Zoe is the Coordinator of the Women's Legal Ser vice in Brisbane and is well known for her tireless representation on national and international committees, numerous publications (including some for the Alt.LJ) and public presentations in the areas of domestic violence, women and children, and the Criminal Code. Kate is a solicitor in the construction litigation field with Minter Ellison, and has demonstrated a strong commitment to her career through excellence in academic study and involvement in com munity work.
Calabro Partners recognising the professional accomplishments of outstanding women lawyers and their role in encouraging other women lawyers sponsored the awards. Helen Moyes, the President of the Women Lawyers Association said, 'Women have had to work hard for equity and recognition in the workplace generally, and that is certainly true of the legal profession. We were recently reminded that it was not so many years ago that legal firms in Brisbane advertised for lawyers in the 'men only' column of the local newspaper.' Girlie congratulates Zoe and Kate, recalling her own difficult path in gaining articles. After a four-hour train trip and a cursory interview Girlie was told by the male interviewing solicitor, 'Oh I was never going to give you the job. I just wanted to see what you looked like.' Girlie responded with a gesture of contempt.
In the United Kingdom women lawyers are recognised by 'The Times Woman Lawyer of the Year' a prestigious prize. Queensland is the first State to initiate a similar award in Australia and hopes to achieve a national award in the future.
The Sisters of St Joseph have commissioned a bright red bottlebrush in honour of Mary McKillop. The plant has been described as 'resilient, tough and colourful - like Mary herself'. The Sisters will use royalties from the sale of the plant for their charitable works.
Girlie acknowledges the life and work of Leanne Whiteside a lawyer from Victoria who is believed to have died in the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001. Leanne was beginning her second day of work with AON Risk Services at the time. Prior to being seconded to New York, Leanne worked at AON's Melbourne offices and lived in Prahran. Leanne was 31 years old. AON lost 200 of its staff on that day.
A national shortage of teachers is causing concern to parents and teachers. In South Australia they are worried that proposed changes to the Education Act will dumb down the teaching profession in a bid to meet teacher shortages. The changes would give politicians power to dictate teaching requirements, codes of conduct and the day-to-day running of schools. The President of the South Australian Secondary Principals Association, Sue McMillan fears the changes would allow teachers who have only minimal qualifications.
Queen Elizabeth the Second has finally succumbed to the mobile needs of a busy working monarch. According to the Sun Her Majesty received her first mobile phone - a gift from Prince Andrew - in September. The Prince not only bought his mum a phone but also taught her to use it. According to 'sources' the Queen does not use the phone in public but chats to family while at Buckingham Palace and her country estates. She apparently also uses it to telephone horse racing contacts.
In the minds of one of Australia's psychics our courts are able to offer more suitable remedies than more traditional methods such as spells, curses and hexes. Working 'white witch' Kerry Kulkens has spurned traditional witchcraft remedies by heading for the Federal Court. Ms Kulkens who claims to be 'Australia's No. 1 psychic' says her name is being falsely used to lure innocent members of the public into calling a psychic telephone help-line. The services are being sold as 'Kerry Kulkens Service' or 'Kerry Kulkens Insight'. While Ms Kulkens was once associated with these services she withdrew from them after a falling out last year. Her Statement of Claim alleges organisations like the International Network of Psychics 'wrongfully passes off or attempted to pass off psychic and clairvoyant information' not approved by Ms Kulkens. According to the Herald-Sun (26/9/2001) the court action seeking damages and costs was not among Ms Kulkens' predictions for 2001. She did, however, predict 'major American cities targeted for terrorist attacks' and 'more and more illegal boat people arriving on our shores'. She also had visions of a deluge of counterfeit $50 notes and that 'using anti-gravity to lift
heavy objects would become a reality'. Judge -Tony North ordered the warring psychics to try to resolve their differences through mediation.
Congratualations to the senior women citizens of South Arm Tasmania for their initiative in producing a nude calendar to raise enough money to buy curtains for their community hall. Dot Kelly aged 70 stars in the calendar and is quoted in the Age (25/9/2001) as saying: 'The men said, "Oh you can't do that". I said, "why not? I'll be dead before we get curtains into the hall at the rate we're going".'
In Victoria the case of Schou v State of Victoria has been overturned on appeal. It involved a female Hansard transcriber one of whose children had an anxiety condition, which was exacerbated when she was away from home. She approached the Victorian government to allow her to work from home. Her request was refused and she took action for discrimination that was successful and her damages were quite substantial. Sadly for the plaintiff the matter was appealed to Harper J who overturned the decision, taking a strict contractualist approach to the employment relation ship. He stressed that reasonableness includes looking at what is reasonable for the employer, focussing strongly on the practices of other employers. So much for the government's commitment to assisting families by providing work from home opportunities!
Sue Lissiter
Sue is a Feminist Lawyer.
AustLII:
Copyright Policy
|
Disclaimers
|
Privacy Policy
|
Feedback
URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AltLawJl/2001/96.html