The AAWAA Women’s Advocate

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AAWAA is a national peak advocacy body and independent media outlet. The AAWAA Women's Advocate works for the protection and advancement of Australian women and girls in areas where we are vulnerable on the basis of our sex. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

  1. CEDAW and the Netherlands: Why “sex work” isn’t women’s rights

    1D AGO

    CEDAW and the Netherlands: Why “sex work” isn’t women’s rights

    Emma and Amber examine the CEDAW Committee’s advance observations on the Netherlands, asking what it means when a UN women’s rights body talks about “sex work”, “safe and legal workplaces, including home‑based sex work”, and even “minor sex workers”. They discuss how this language sits with CEDAW, CRC, Palermo and the 1949 Convention, why it signals institutional drift away from sex‑based protections and rights, and what an abolitionist, treaty‑consistent approach to prostitution and trafficking should look like—for the Netherlands and for Australia. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

    14 min
  2. Dismissed, delayed, doubted: The age pension audit and what it doesn't say

    FEB 26

    Dismissed, delayed, doubted: The age pension audit and what it doesn't say

    Emma and Suzi examine the Auditor-General's comprehensive performance audit of age pension administration in light of evidence AAWAA submitted to the Australian National Audit Office one year earlier. The audit validates systemic failures – $5 billion in incorrect payments, processing delays up to 4.2 years, only 48.55 per cent of phone calls answered – but contains no sex-disaggregated analysis despite women constituting 55.55 per cent of recipients. They discuss specific cases of older women dismissed, delayed, doubted, and subjected to greater scrutiny than male counterparts, and why gender-neutral reform recommendations will fail to address how women experience administrative failures differently. Without making women visible in data and analysis, pension system reform will continue to assume a recipient who does not exist. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

    10 min
  3. Three commissioners, one conversation: womens advocates brief the Australian Human Rights Commission

    FEB 19

    Three commissioners, one conversation: womens advocates brief the Australian Human Rights Commission

    Emma is joined by Megan to unpack a significant development for womens advocacy in Australia: a formal meeting between AAWAA, Feminist Legal Clinic, the Coalition of Activist Lesbians, and the Australian Human Rights Commission. They discuss why womens organisations pushed to meet with the President, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner and the Human Rights Commissioner; what they presented about Australia’s de facto sex and gender framework; and how concerns about female‑only spaces, lesbian‑only organising, and CEDAW‑compliant consultation were received. The episode explores ‘strategic patience’, section 11 inquiry powers, and what it means for womens groups to move from sending submissions to being recognised as stakeholders inside the national human rights body. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

    12 min
  4. Underground again: How governance failures erase lesbian rights

    FEB 12

    Underground again: How governance failures erase lesbian rights

    Emma and Luci examine violence and discrimination affecting lesbian and bisexual women in Australia. They unpack how governance failures themselves constitute discrimination: the systematic exclusion of lesbian women from policy processes on sex self-identification laws, exemptions under discrimination law, and school policies. They detail the Lesbian Action Group's failed exemption application to the AHRC, institutional capture by LGBTIQ+ organisations claiming to represent lesbian interests, and how lesbians are denied the right to organise publicly as women – while gay men and transgender groups operate without obstruction. This is about fundamental human rights violations through governance failure. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

    12 min
  5. Male violence against mothers: Making it visible

    FEB 5

    Male violence against mothers: Making it visible

    Emma and Lucy unpack violence against mothers – a form of sex-based harm that remains dangerously invisible in international policy. They examine three interconnected mechanisms: reproductive coercion, weaponisation of children against mothers, and systematic economic subordination through the motherhood penalty. They detail how institutional actors enable rather than prevent this violence, and outline comprehensive recommendations for legislative and policy reform to protect mothers' safety, autonomy, and economic security. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

    12 min
  6. Criminalising advocacy: Why Australia's hate groups bill threatens political freedom

    JAN 15

    Criminalising advocacy: Why Australia's hate groups bill threatens political freedom

    Emma and Megan unpack the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 – a framework that criminalises organisational membership based on a vague "unacceptable risk" standard, without procedural fairness, and with a 72-hour consultation window. They examine the constitutional vulnerabilities: the absence of evidence that organisational criminalisation is necessary, the deliberate removal of procedural safeguards, the risk of retrospective criminalisation for lawful conduct, and the chilling effect on women's political advocacy. This is what happens when serious legislation meets broken process. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

    9 min
  7. Christmas wrap 2025: AAWAA's year of consolidation and strategic advocacy

    12/23/2025

    Christmas wrap 2025: AAWAA's year of consolidation and strategic advocacy

    AAWAA's Christmas Wrap for 2025: Emma hosts Martine, Luci, and Suzi as they look back on a transformative year for AAWAA. They discuss coordinated national campaigns on sex self-ID and surrogacy prohibition, groundbreaking UN submissions on women's human rights, the 2025 federal election push to restore sex-based protections, international momentum against surrogacy, how we've built genuine cross-state collaboration on policy and strategy, and what it means to organise as feminists across Australia. Serious, strategic and upbeat – this is how to build a real movement. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

    23 min
  8. Can the ALRC recommend surrogacy prohibition? What the law actually says

    12/18/2025

    Can the ALRC recommend surrogacy prohibition? What the law actually says

    On 18 December, feminist organisations attended an ALRC roundtable on surrogacy law reform – and witnessed an independent review apparently structurally compromised. Emma and Amber unpack the governance failures: how the ALRC deflected legal questions about abolition, moved process concerns into private emails, conflated having women with representing women's interests, curated 'lived experience' to exclude voices that oppose surrogacy, and set a submission deadline the day after the roundtable. We discuss what the ALRC must do to retain credibility – and why it matters. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

    10 min
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About

AAWAA is a national peak advocacy body and independent media outlet. The AAWAA Women's Advocate works for the protection and advancement of Australian women and girls in areas where we are vulnerable on the basis of our sex. This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

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