Gina Rushton

Harper's Bazaar Arabia • 20th July 2022

When Is The Right Time To Freeze Your Eggs?

A woman sent an innocuous tweet from the frustration and isolation of the pandemic lockdown. “As a 35-year-old single woman who would like to have a family one day, these months dictate whether or not that can happen for me,” the July 2021 post...

The Monthly • 1st November 2021

Lockdown loaves and hampers

Rosanna Barbero passes a woman weighing raisins, then skirts around a pallet of Vegemite jars to enter a cavernous hall where a chain of volunteers is pushing hampers along tables – adding flour, vegetables and sanitiser wipes. The head of Addison...

The Guardian • 29th October 2020

Women who require late-term abortions are being demonised in Australia – again | Gina Rushton

It wouldn’t be a debate about abortion without a flagrant misinformation campaign about terminations after the first trimester. A bill to decriminalise abortion was this month introduced in South Australia, the last jurisdiction to do so, and...

Crikey • 6th September 2020

Women facing violence need protection — and their visa status shouldn't matter

Women affected by domestic violence should have access to all the social support they require. Visa status shouldn't get in the way of that. Anjali* had to make a terrifyingly quick decision in 2016 when her husband held a broken glass and threatened...

Crikey • 12th August 2020

On the Frontline: Childcare workers face no shifts and no support

Childcare workers in Victoria fear dodgy operators will pocket pandemic subsidies and rip off casual staff. Last month the federal government ended its free childcare scheme, under which parents paid no fees and the government paid childcare centres...

The Monthly • 1st August 2020

Doula by choice

Late on a Wednesday night in April before Queensland’s coronavirus restrictions had eased, Brisbane grandmother Jo Bolger answered her phone and inadvertently became Australia’s first practising abortion doula. The next morning, she packed her hand...

7am • 7th June 2020

Killed during the pandemic

From the beginning of the lockdown, domestic violence workers warned of the heightened risk of abuse – especially for women on temporary visas. Last month, a woman was killed in exactly that situation. Gina Rushton on how the sector has...

The Saturday Paper • 18th July 2020

Childcare centres at financial risk

Early in the pandemic, Dani Dafoulis tried to save some money by pulling her two kids out of childcare to look after them while she worked from home. It was “just impossible”, says the Geelong high-school teacher, to try to teach while balancing the...

Buzzfeed • 1st April 2020

The Coronavirus Has Pushed Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings Online, And Regulars Are Worried About Newcomers

"I would not want to be in early recovery right now," Matthew told BuzzFeed News. The three Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings he chairs each week in Sydney's inner west have all moved online as Australians stop social gatherings to slow the spread...

The Guardian • 14th July 2020

Abortion drugs remain inaccessible, unsafe and unaffordable for many Australian women | Gina Rushton

It has been 24 years since the federal government chose the partial privatisation of Telstra over the rights of Australian women to safely terminate a pregnancy with abortion drugs. In 1996, anti-abortion independent Brian Harradine, who held the...

Crikey • 12th July 2020

Lockdown pregnancies creating a 'shadow pandemic' of complications

Reproductive health and abortion providers say they are preparing for a 'shadow pandemic' following a wave of unintended pregnancies during the world's lockdowns. A heavily pregnant 19-year-old with high blood pressure lost her baby and went...

7am • 22nd July 2020

Scott Morrison and the invisible woman

The decision to pull subsidies from childcare has caused alarm in the sector - especially because it is the first place the government cut support. 7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper. It’s produced by Ruby Schwartz, Atticus...

The Saturday Paper • 27th June 2020

Victoria’s spike in Covid-19 cases

A cluster at a Brimbank meatworks, a teacher at an Albanvale primary school, outbreaks at two Melbourne hotels where travellers were quarantined, a Coburg family, staff at a McDonald’s and an H&M, a toddler at a Prahran childcare centre, a Coles...

Crikey • 21st June 2020

Employers have a duty to keep staff safe, no matter where they work

A landmark ruling has brought into sharp relief the potential responsibilities of Australian employers to workers experiencing violence. As the line between work and home continues to blur during the coronavirus pandemic, a landmark ruling has...

The Saturday Paper • 30th May 2020

Temporary visa holders at risk

“I think of it as a Choose Your Own Adventure book where every door is locked,” says Diana Sayed, chief executive of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights. She describes the path offered to women in Australia on temporary visas who...

Buzzfeed • 7th May 2020

The Coronavirus Is Showing Up Gaps In Australia’s Abortion Access

Fiona had just survived a brutal bushfire season and moved into a small tin shed with her two toddlers and partner while they built their family home when the coronavirus outbreak hit. “Then I found out I was pregnant,” Fiona — a pseudonym to...

Buzzfeed • 7th May 2020

Australia And New Zealand Are Talking About Creating A Travel Bubble

Australia and New Zealand are considering creating a travel bubble by opening up borders just to each other before allowing broader international travel, as COVID-19 case numbers in the two countries continue to plateau. Australian prime minister...

Buzzfeed • 1st May 2020

South Australia Is Waiting On One Man To Decide If Women Have To Travel For Medical Abortions In A Pandemic

In every Australian jurisdiction bar one, women can access medical abortions over telehealth. In South Australia, the law dictates a woman must physically see two different doctors at an approved hospital to get medical abortion pills. Only a handful...

Buzzfeed • 28th April 2020

Victims Of Violence Will Now Have To Gather Evidence Themselves To Get Compensation In NSW

Victims of crime in the Australian state of New South Wales will have to gather their own evidence to support claims of violence under a controversial change that has taken community services by surprise in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. If...

Buzzfeed • 24th April 2020

These Women Are The Faces Of Australia’s Essential Workforce

Jocelyn Hoffman has stopped seeing her loved ones and spends her time reassuring patient’s families that their loved ones are okay. Hoffman is a registered nurse working at a NSW aged care facility, where she says patients are anxious about...