{"id":24321,"date":"2018-12-04T20:22:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T20:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=24321"},"modified":"2018-12-04T20:22:59","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T20:22:59","slug":"australia-apologises-for-barring-female-journalist-over-attire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=24321","title":{"rendered":"Australia apologises for barring female journalist over attire"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Australia’s government has apologised for removing a female journalist from parliament over an objection with her attire, an incident that sparked outrage online as\u00a0a violation of press freedom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Patricia Karvelas, a presenter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), said she had been “kicked out” of the chamber in the capital, Canberra, on Monday because her top allegedly revealed “too much skin”.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The attendant came up to me, she was very polite, she said she was essentially executing orders of her supervisor who said my clothes, what I’m wearing, ‘too much shoulder’,”\u00a0Karvelas<\/span> said.<\/p>\n

“Basically I needed to cover up more, I needed a jacket,” she said, adding she thought her pant suit was in keeping with “parliamentary standards”.<\/p>\n

\n

I have just been kicked out of #QT<\/a> because you can allegedly see too much skin. His insane #Auspol<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/51KipESXlG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) December 3, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to Australia’s parliament website<\/a>, the standard of dress in the chamber is a matter of “individual judgement”, but the ulltimate decision of what is acceptable rests with the speaker.<\/p>\n

The attire should involve “good trousers, a jacket, collar and tie for men and a similar standard of formality for women”.<\/p>\n

Karvelas, who hosts a daily radio show for the national broadcaster, tweeted a photo<\/a> of herself wearing a white half-sleeve top and black pants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is my controversial outfit,” she posted on Twitter.<\/p>\n

‘Right to bare arms’<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The incident sparked a discussion online about protocol, with one Twitter user accusing Karvelas of “breaching existing dress standards”.<\/p>\n

“Although the rules might be ridiculous, she has an obligation to comply with them,” she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Apart from the fact she is breaching existing dress standards. <\/p>\n

Although the rules might be ridiculous, she has an obligation to comply with them. <\/p>\n

And we cannot expect Lisa to actually research something before ranting can we? pic.twitter.com\/gMez3fiYzL<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vegemite Kid (@vegemite_kid) December 4, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, others jumped to Karvelas’ defence and called the journalists’ removal\u00a0a “violation of press freedom and sexism all rolled into one”.<\/p>\n

\n

Absolutely dreadful. Freedom of the press violations and sexism rolled into one. Australia, you\u2019re a hot country: what\u2019s going on?#ShowUsSomeArm<\/a> <\/p>\n

The ‘right to bare arms’ in Australia’s parliament https:\/\/t.co\/SW0ZqHC9Fn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 sparkyannc (@sparkyannc) December 3, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many also compared Karvelas’ outfit and the clothing choices with Australia’s former foreign minister Julie Bishop, who tends to wear short-sleeved or sleeveless dresses during parliamentary sessions.<\/p>\n

\n

Julie Bishop last Monday. @PatsKarvelas<\/a> this Monday. pic.twitter.com\/HSJlyAzbAR<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Airlie Walsh (@AirlieWalsh) December 3, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“If Bishop has worn sleeveless dresses in parliament without incident … then Karvelas is totally following the rules,” said Lisa Wilkinson, executive editor at 10daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Women also came out in solidarity with the journalist online, sharing pictures of their arms, using the hashtag Show Us Some Arm.<\/p>\n

\n

Lucky my bare arms and I were only teaching teenagers today and not in the press gallery… @PatsKarvelas<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/nAzSgDG8cV<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Elizabeth Saunders \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83d\udd2c (@E_R_Saunders) December 3, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Following the online furore, Defence Minister Christopher Pyne expressed regret over the incident.<\/p>\n

“I would like to apologise on behalf of this side of the House to Ms Karvelas for being ejected yesterday from the press gallery,” he said in parliament on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Tony Smith, House speaker, admitted that Karvelas should not have been asked to leave and called for a review of the parliamentary dress code for journalists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The journalist in question was attired in a way which would be reasonably considered professional business attire,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In the interim, I’ve asked that the definition of\u00a0the formal business attire for female journalists in the chamber be applied, having regard to the attire of members generally,” Smith added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Pleased that female journalists will be free to wear professional clothing that reflects what politicians wear. Sensible outcome. #auspol<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) December 4, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After the apology, Karvelas tweeted she was “pleased that female journalists will be free to wear professional clothing that reflects what politicians wear. Sensible outcome”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia’s government has apologised for removing a female journalist from parliament over an objection with her attire, an incident that sparked outrage online as\u00a0a violation of press freedom.\u00a0 Patricia Karvelas, a presenter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), said she had been “kicked out” of the chamber in the capital, Canberra, on Monday because her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}