Victorian premier Jacinta Allan accuses News Corp of using ‘sexualised imagery’ in cartoon

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has slammed a News Corp cartoon that depicts her naked at a fashion show, saying women should not be drawn with “sexualised imagery”.

In a cartoon published in the Herald Sun on Tuesday, cartoonist Mark Knight depicts Allan as a new nude catwalk model – using some pixelation – with the caption: “From the Commonwealth Games cancellation … the premier’s new clothes.”

The premier criticised the cartoon on Tuesday.

“It’s 2023 and I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect that the Herald Sun in-house cartoonist should be able to draw women without using sexualised imagery,” Allan said.

“They’ve done that. It’s a matter for them.”

Asked if she had seen a male politician depicted as a nude catwalk model, Allan said: “Not to my recollection.”

She said all women “deserve to be able to open the paper, look at images that are there for public consumption and not see sexualised imagery being used to represent them”.

“It’s not the 1950s,” Allan said. “It’s 2023.”

It comes after a parliamentary hearing on Monday heard that Allan – who had been the minister for Commonwealth Games delivery – gave games officials assurances in April that additional funding for the event would be signed off. Victoria later withdrew from hosting the games, citing costs.

Knight insisted he didn’t draw the cartoon for the sake of depicting a naked premier, but rather to reference a folktale – the Emperor’s New Clothes – and the evidence led at the games inquiry on Monday.

“It’s not sexualised imagery,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.

“I felt that some of the information that was coming out left the premier a little bit exposed and my cartoonist brains clicked into gear and it was fashion week and, I thought, ‘well, this is not a bad idea’.”

The Walkley award-winning cartoonist pointed to his past work drawing former prime minister Tony Abbott in budgie smugglers as proof of him practising equal opportunity mockery.

Knight courted global controversy in 2018 for his depiction of tennis legend Serena Williams throwing a tantrum during that year’s US Open final.

“There’s nothing worse than a boring cartoonist … but I don’t seek to deliberately outrage,” he said.

Allan became Victoria’s first female premier in more than three decades last month, replacing Daniel Andrews.

Former Labor premier Steve Bracks also criticised the cartoon.

“I was premier for almost eight years and not once was I subjected to the awful, sexualised treatment premier Jacinta Allan has received in less than a month,” Bracks said. “We need to do better.”

Opposition frontbencher Jess Wilson said the cartoon was “in poor taste” but did not want it to “distract from the bigger issues” like the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games.

Wilson said the opposition wanted to see the level of political discourse in Victoria and Australia lifted. 
“We want to make sure when we’re looking at policy issues in Victoria, we are looking at the policy issues,” she said.

Victoria’s inaugural Public Sector Gender Equality commissioner, Niki Vincent, said she found the cartoon tiresome and suggested it used sexism.

“Often we see women leaders with their bodies focused on, their clothing focused on,” Vincent told ABC Radio Melbourne.

“So this is another example of how to make fun of a woman leader using their body.”

The deputy premier, Ben Carroll, said he hadn’t seen the cartoon but recalled the speech of Australia’s first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, after she was deposed in 2013, declaring she was confident it would be easier for the next woman.

“In 2023, to be going through that sexualised imagery … is just not on.”