Here is the opening paragraph of an article by Gillian Triggs writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on January 9/10th:
‘Gender rights are no joke.Australian law gives us all a legal right to live and to work free from sexual harassment.
But where does behaviour that is inappropriate, disrespectful or just plain rude cross the line to become unlawful? This is a question the Australian Human Rights Commission has been working on for 30 years.’
When someone barges into your home and starts yelling, ‘You are to discipline your children. I have just heard one of them mimicking me’. ‘I have it in my power to make life difficult for you and your family’, is that home invasion? Is that harassment?
Is that inappropriate, disrespectful or just plain rude?
As it turned out, it was not actually one of my children who had done the parroting (‘Mimicking, I said mimicking’). It turned out to have been my son’s best friend, who is now a composer of music for film and living in the States on the West Coast.
You could argue that the 11 year-old boy’s behaviour had been rude or disrespectful, but inappropriate? Given that we were not at any time accorded any kind of consideration, most especially when it came to being shielded from the noise from next door, the boy had no choice but to have to listen to what was being said. He chose to imitate (Mimic, I said mimic) a, possibly loud, announcement about a game of tennis which he happened to find funny. Already then, he had a musical ear.
Barging into our house, ordering me to discipline my children, making threats against me and my wife and my children was ruder, more inconsiderate and more inappropriate. But what rights do I have? What can you do if the man is an Australian Diplomat?
Given that the Human Rights Commission has been mulling over what constitutes sexual harassment for 30 years, don’t expect any answers anytime soon.
My choice back then was to sell the house and move away from the man who had made those threats. But this was no solution. I have been living with his threats for 24 years and they still affect the way I live.
Australian Diplomacy? A Fine Example.
There may be those who lament that a man such as that should be representing his Country. There will be others who think that it is entirely appropriate.