A Teen On ‘Q&A’ Has Asked How Young Women Can Trust In A Government That Rewarded Bettina Arndt
"As young women, how are we supposed to trust in a nation, a government and a society that celebrated and awarded Bettina Arndt, a woman who praised the comments of a Queensland police officer in the wake of the Hannah Clarke tragedy?" the guest asked, still dressed in a school uniform.
In the wake of the tragic murder of Hannah Clarke, long-time conservative commentator Bettina Arndt stepped into the media spotlight to praise a Queensland police officer who said that Clarke’s murder would be investigated “with an open mind.”
The writer congratulated the Queensland Police Force as a whole, heaping them with praise for entertaining the possibility that Clarke’s murderer might have been, in her words, “driven too far.”
Arndt’s comments were particularly condemnable given her recent Australia Day honours: the a one-time sex therapist turned men’s right activist was made a member of the Order of Australia this year.
It’s that honour that a young guest on Q+A called out last night, asking a diverse panel of media figures how young Australians could ever trust a nation that had awarded someone willing to make such comments.
“As young women, how are we supposed to trust in a nation, a government and a society that celebrated and awarded Bettina Arndt, a woman who praised the comments of a Queensland police officer in the wake of the Hannah Clarke tragedy?” the guest asked, still dressed in a school uniform.
How can we trust a society that awarded Bettina Arndt an Australia Day honour? #QandA pic.twitter.com/CR4ScoIvc0
— ABC Q+A (@QandA) March 2, 2020
When the question was posed to the panel, Arndt’s comments were widely decried.
“For a woman to actually make that commentary, and gloat about it — and as far as I know her tweet is still up there — it’s horrific,” said Nova Peris, an Indigenous athlete and former Australian politician.
“What she’s doing is almost … giving an excuse for that behaviour. You’ve got to call these things out for what it is. I mean, a monster murdered his wife and his children. It is what it is. And you’ve got to start calling those shots for what they [are.]”
The police officer whose comments Arndt praised was stood down from the investigation into the Clarke murder.