pelican, "Should any party advocate for the changes you posted above, I would suspect it would be the death knell."

No, the change can be implemented by informal means. Example from the UK experience:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4749183.ece

suzeonline, "Sharia law principles will never be enacted in this country - we just won't allow it!"

We don't allow child marriage for the mainstream population either, but authorities including the courts, do turn a blind eye to it where Aboriginal girls are concerned - and there are no arguments about informed consent.

Polygamy? Recognised by Centrelink.

Incremental change.

Dear Antiseptic,

I read an interesting article in "The Age,"
Saturday, March 6th 2010 (Insight, page 3),
by Gabriella Coslovich, in which she says:

"...We live in times when women are constantly
given advice on how to live and what to aspire to,
to safeguard their precious gift of virginity, to
put children before completing their PhDs, to
lower their standards, to stay skinny, cook, clean,
and do as men say..."

And then you have publicists such as Max Markson who
said of his "celebrity" client Lara Bingle (only
days before the scandal broke over the naked photo
in the shower):

"It's because of her relationship with Australian
cricketer Michael Clarke that makes her interesting.
Without him, her worth would be cut to about a fifth..."

Yet amid all this cultural noise you get facts that
the author points out. Facts such as:

1) More women go to tertiary studies than men.
But they continue to be under-represented in
Parliament, Ministerial positions, as Legislators,
Senior Officials, and Managers.

2) On average women earn 17 per cent less than men.
Pay differentials have gone backwards in recent decades.

3) Occupations that are traditionally seen as women's
work, such as nursing, teaching, and child-care,
are typically lower paid than male-dominated industries.

4) There's a superannuation crisis looming for women who
on average have $3 for every $10 men have in their
super accounts.

These are all issues that could be important to women.
However, as other posters have pointed out - we're not
all the same, and what's important to one, may not
be important to another. How we vote depends on how deeply
we care about certain issues, and whether party
loyalties feature in the equation, as
well as the importance (or not), of the
personalities involved.

Each of us (male or female) are multi-faceted individuals,
with our own take on things - and how we vote will be based
on what is important to us, rather than what a
magazine/newspaper, or personality tells us should be
important.

if a majority of the parliament don't like how women vote legislation can be passed to simply ban
women from voting and being elected to the parliament.
any discussion on how women vote must be accompanied with the qualification that their vote is
entirely dependent upon how men feel at any particular moment in time or the discussion is
disingenuous and dishonest.
only a majority of registered voters in a majority of states can ban men.

Hay Foxy, do you think that after years of equal pay, womens pay has slipped, perhaps, because employers have finally figgered out what most of them are really worth.

Don't worry about womens super, they will just divorce their husbands, & the family court will give them his, [& hers as well].

Whistler, that sounds like a great idea mate. Can you suggest how we would get them off the roads though, so we could drive our cars. The silly things would be marching all over the place, just like they did a hundred tears ago. No sense of justice, you know, as well as overpaid, that's their problem.

Runs for cover!

Hasbeen the only inalienable right a woman in Australia has right now is the right to male supervision.
feel free to give full reign your diabolical fantasies.
all other rights men granted women which men may take away.
the provision of a women's legislature is the only way women will ever obtain equal rights with men.

whistler
How would you reconcile a women's legislature with issues like Family Law that involve men, women and children?

What sorts of issues would the legislature deal with? Would criminal sentences vary for women and men for the same crime under such as system?

Surely the law has to be even-handed without fear or favour on the basis of gender, age, race or religion.