Gina Rushton

The Monthly • 1st November 2021

Lockdown loaves and hampers

Rosanna Barbero passes a woman weighing raisins, then skirts around a pallet of Vegemite jars to enter a cavernous hall where a chain of volunteers is pushing hampers along tables – adding flour, vegetables and sanitiser wipes. The head of Addison Road Community Organisation, in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner-west, sits down, perhaps for the first time that day. “We are going to have a huge party when we close all of this down, because we will have humane policies in place and people won’t nee

The Guardian • 29th October 2020

Women who require late-term abortions are being demonised in Australia – again | Gina Rushton

It wouldn’t be a debate about abortion without a flagrant misinformation campaign about terminations after the first trimester. A bill to decriminalise abortion was this month introduced in South Australia, the last jurisdiction to do so, and opponents of the legislation have already set about claiming if passed it would legalise and in fact encourage “abortion up to birth”, an offensive but ultimately meaningless phrase.

Crikey • 6th September 2020

Women facing violence need protection — and their visa status shouldn't matter

Women affected by domestic violence should have access to all the social support they require. Visa status shouldn't get in the way of that. Anjali* had to make a terrifyingly quick decision in 2016 when her husband held a broken glass and threatened to kill her.

Crikey • 12th August 2020

On the Frontline: Childcare workers face no shifts and no support

Childcare workers in Victoria fear dodgy operators will pocket pandemic subsidies and rip off casual staff. Last month the federal government ended its free childcare scheme, under which parents paid no fees and the government paid childcare centres 50% of the hourly rate cap. Education minister Dan Tehan says the package had succeeded in keeping services “open and viable”.

The Monthly • 1st August 2020

Doula by choice

Late on a Wednesday night in April before Queensland’s coronavirus restrictions had eased, Brisbane grandmother Jo Bolger answered her phone and inadvertently became Australia’s first practising abortion doula. The next morning, she packed her hand sanitiser and drove to a hospital to meet the client about whom she knew just snippets – international student, completely alone, second-trimester termination.

7am • 7th June 2020

Killed during the pandemic

From the beginning of the lockdown, domestic violence workers warned of the heightened risk of abuse – especially for women on temporary visas. Last month, a woman was killed in exactly that situation. Gina Rushton on how the sector has responded. 7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

The Saturday Paper • 18th July 2020

Childcare centres at financial risk

Early in the pandemic, Dani Dafoulis tried to save some money by pulling her two kids out of childcare to look after them while she worked from home. It was “just impossible”, says the Geelong high-school teacher, to try to teach while balancing the care of a two-year-old and a five-year-old.

Buzzfeed • 1st April 2020

The Coronavirus Has Pushed Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings Online, And Regulars Are Worried About Newcomers

"I would not want to be in early recovery right now," Matthew told BuzzFeed News. The three Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings he chairs each week in Sydney's inner west have all moved online as Australians stop social gatherings to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. "When people are in early recovery the only thing they can do when they get home is to go straight to a meeting. I was pretty much at a meeting every day for the first few months," Matthew — a pseudonym to protect his privacy

The Guardian • 14th July 2020

Abortion drugs remain inaccessible, unsafe and unaffordable for many Australian women | Gina Rushton

It has been 24 years since the federal government chose the partial privatisation of Telstra over the rights of Australian women to safely terminate a pregnancy with abortion drugs. In 1996, anti-abortion independent Brian Harradine, who held the balance of power in the Senate, agreed to support John Howard’s one-third float of the telecommunications company if the government amended legislation to give the health minister veto to prohibit the import, manufacture or use of abortion drug RU486.

Crikey • 12th July 2020

Lockdown pregnancies creating a 'shadow pandemic' of complications

Reproductive health and abortion providers say they are preparing for a 'shadow pandemic' following a wave of unintended pregnancies during the world's lockdowns. A heavily pregnant 19-year-old with high blood pressure lost her baby and went partially blind after she was turned away from a Port Moresby hospital in April, as the hospital had no temperature-testing facilities to confirm she was not carrying COVID-19.

7am • 22nd July 2020

Scott Morrison and the invisible woman

The decision to pull subsidies from childcare has caused alarm in the sector - especially because it is the first place the government cut support. 7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper. It’s produced by Ruby Schwartz, Atticus Bastow, and Michelle Macklem.

The Saturday Paper • 27th June 2020

Victoria’s spike in Covid-19 cases

A cluster at a Brimbank meatworks, a teacher at an Albanvale primary school, outbreaks at two Melbourne hotels where travellers were quarantined, a Coburg family, staff at a McDonald’s and an H&M, a toddler at a Prahran childcare centre, a Coles worker at a Laverton distribution centre, an Essendon AFL player who returned a positive and then a negative test. Then, on Wednesday, the first death from coronavirus in Australia in a month.

Crikey • 21st June 2020

Employers have a duty to keep staff safe, no matter where they work

A landmark ruling has brought into sharp relief the potential responsibilities of Australian employers to workers experiencing violence. As the line between work and home continues to blur during the coronavirus pandemic, a landmark ruling has brought into sharp relief the potential responsibilities of Australian employers to thousands of workers who are experiencing violence.

The Saturday Paper • 30th May 2020

Temporary visa holders at risk

“I think of it as a Choose Your Own Adventure book where every door is locked,” says Diana Sayed, chief executive of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights. She describes the path offered to women in Australia on temporary visas who are seeking to leave a violent relationship. It’s a stark reality that was brought into focus last week when Kamaljeet Sidhu, a 27-year-old international student living in Sydney’s north-west, was fatally stabbed in her home. Her husband, Baltej Lai

Buzzfeed • 7th May 2020

The Coronavirus Is Showing Up Gaps In Australia’s Abortion Access

Fiona had just survived a brutal bushfire season and moved into a small tin shed with her two toddlers and partner while they built their family home when the coronavirus outbreak hit. “Then I found out I was pregnant,” Fiona — a pseudonym to protect her privacy — told BuzzFeed News. “That was a surprise.” The last thing the 26-year-old Adelaide Hills mother needed was an unplanned pregnancy in the only Australian state where you can’t legally access medical abortion drugs over the phone. T

Buzzfeed • 7th May 2020

Australia And New Zealand Are Talking About Creating A Travel Bubble

Australia and New Zealand are considering creating a travel bubble by opening up borders just to each other before allowing broader international travel, as COVID-19 case numbers in the two countries continue to plateau. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday afternoon that he "swapped notes" with New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern when she dialled in via video link to a meeting of Australia's national cabinet — comprised of the prime minister and state and territory le

Buzzfeed • 1st May 2020

South Australia Is Waiting On One Man To Decide If Women Have To Travel For Medical Abortions In A Pandemic

In every Australian jurisdiction bar one, women can access medical abortions over telehealth. In South Australia, the law dictates a woman must physically see two different doctors at an approved hospital to get medical abortion pills. Only a handful of hospitals in the state provide the pills, meaning the vast majority of rural and regional women have to travel to the capital Adelaide.

Buzzfeed • 28th April 2020

Victims Of Violence Will Now Have To Gather Evidence Themselves To Get Compensation In NSW

Victims of crime in the Australian state of New South Wales will have to gather their own evidence to support claims of violence under a controversial change that has taken community services by surprise in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. If you have been the victim of a crime and are seeking counselling or compensation in New South Wales, the long-standing process has been that you submit a form outlining when you think the crime occurred and what the injury was, whether that is physical

Buzzfeed • 24th April 2020

These Women Are The Faces Of Australia’s Essential Workforce

Jocelyn Hoffman has stopped seeing her loved ones and spends her time reassuring patient’s families that their loved ones are okay. Hoffman is a registered nurse working at a NSW aged care facility, where she says patients are anxious about contracting COVID-19 and staff are anxious about infecting them. “After work we have to make sure we don’t compromise the health of our families by taking it home and at work we have to make sure we don’t compromise the health of our patients,” she said.

Buzzfeed • 17th April 2020

Is The Coronavirus Making A Comrade Of Conservative Leaders Or Are They Just “Saving Capitalism”?

The coronavirus pandemic has Australians joking that prime minister Scott Morrison is an unlikely new comrade in the march toward socialism. In a matter of weeks, the once surplus obsessed “ScoMo” has doubled the rate of welfare payments, scrapped childcare fees for essential workers, announced a nationwide moratorium on rental evictions and handed $150 million extra dollars to domestic violence services.