Rally Recap – Sal Grover’s ‘Restore Women’s Rights’, 4 July 2026.
Words by Christopher Ashburner
“Because truth matters.”
I had felt apprehensive about attending the Restore Women’s Rights rally on the steps of Parliament House, because I knew a counterdemonstration was planned, but I decided to pretend that I was brave and go anyway. Making my way through the city towards Parliament House, I happened to meet an older woman proudly carrying a TERF flag who had come from Adelaide to attend the rally. A group of people who were clearly on their way to attend a different rally shouted foul-mouthed abuse at us, and I felt concerned and protective of my older companion, but she cheerfully gave them a serve back. She was an old hand at women’s battles, and, as she said, “We just have to do it all over again!”
“Sure enough, he used to fully embrace trans and queer dogma, but had started to question his beliefs, and was now at his second rally in support of women’s rights.”
The rally was good-natured, and with several hundred otherwise disparate women and men united by a common cause, it was easy to chat with a stranger and know you had a friend. I was particularly happy to talk with a colourful young man with a nose ring - I asked if he had accidentally ended up in the wrong rally. Sure enough, he used to fully embrace trans and queer dogma, but had started to question his beliefs, and was now at his second rally in support of women’s rights.
“…women who had dared to speak the truth, facing heavy penalties under laws once intended to protect females, now weaponised against them."
Over a hundred police kept the noisy counterdemonstration at a safe distance behind barricades. If we turned away from our speakers, we mainly saw police facing the counterdemonstration, so perhaps the police had decided the middle-aged ladies were unlikely to misbehave!
A range of speakers spoke with passion but also succinctly: women who had dared to speak the truth facing heavy penalties under laws once intended to protect females, now weaponised against them. As one speaker (Drew Hutton) said: “When leaders fail us, ordinary people have to become heroes and ordinary people have to be brave; what we are facing is wrong, it’s immoral, and we’re going to fight.”
Another speaker (David Limbrick) drew links between the counter-demonstrators’ attempts to drown us out, the stifling of public debate, the silence and cowardice of the mainstream media and the ideological capture of regulatory bodies and tribunals and their refusal to acknowledge a clash of rights between trans identifying males and women.
Julie Szego, sacked from The Age for attempting to subject Australian child gender medicine to scrutiny, asked rhetorically:
“When there are so many troubles in the world – wars, climate… why blow your life up over this issue? Why? Because, apart from the vulnerable women in prison with male sexual offenders; apart from the breaching of female boundaries; apart from the erasure of lesbians; apart from distressed kids who fall prey to a gender cult with the lifelong consequences of mutilating healthy young bodies; apart from the denial of ethical care by perverse gender therapy laws; apart from the family trauma caused by this; apart from the dehumanising of women as “cervix havers” and “chest feeders” - putting all that aside, why this issue?
Because truth matters.”