The misogyny coin buys less than it used to

June 14, 2026 — 5:00am

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Inflation is when there are more dollars, but each one of them is worth less. Over the past years, accusations of misogyny have fallen victim to inflation.

That became apparent when a brothel-owner paid for trucks to drive around Melbourne with a “Ditch the Witch” billboard targeting Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan. The gendered billboards were condemned by Labor and Coalition politicians. My first thought was how stupid they were. There is plenty to criticise about a government that presides over the indebted, sclerotic and crime-ridden state of Victoria, and the premier who leads it. But gender is irrelevant.

For all the ire raised by Allan’s predecessor, Dan Andrews, there was always something more on-point to say in protesting his leadership than “Flick the Dick”.

In the past, outrage over the billboard might even have benefited Allan by raising a modicum of sympathy for an unpopular female leader. But it quickly became apparent that we are no longer in the past. There was a brief expression of anger in the media and online, where former prime minister Julia Gillard – the last target of the “Ditch the Witch” slur in Australia – posted that she was saddened to see “this tired old trope resurrected”. But there was no intensity. Despite Allan’s best efforts, the headlines petered out in a couple of days.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who has been called much worse, told Allan to “suck it up, sweetheart”. Gillard’s statement caused a flare-up in the opposite direction. The ongoing Tickle vs Giggle legal stoush has caused many women to question........

© Brisbane Times