Barnaby, Bonk Bans & Bonnie Blue: Rapid Fire Friday

Today we’re doing something a little different: a rapid‑fire tour through the week in women’s news, fuelled by tarot pulls, gin and soda, and a healthy dose of feminist rage.

This week: Barnaby’s latest abortion “hot take,” Bonnie Blue and her golden baby shower, the appalling treatment of women in politics (featuring yet another tired “ditch the witch” moment), and Epstein’s personal secretary doing her best “I know nothing” routine — all while military exercises roar overhead. It’s a mix of laughs, rage and shout‑outs to the women holding it together in a country that keeps asking them to swallow just one more thing. Rage on.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Rage on the Rocks, where the drinks are cold and the rage is hot. Today we are going to do something a little bit different. How are you, Sarah? As you're taking a drink. You asked me at the right time. Sorry. I'm great. Yourself? I'm feeling pretty good today. We did a tarot pool. The tarot pool for today was all about winning, smashing it, leaning into this episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Very true. Feeling good. We won't tell the folks that I pulled the one about imprisonment, isolation, and despair.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Nope, we're going with mine for today. And we will acknowledge there has been a little tiny, tiny break while I solo parented my tiny little humans, which is people do that every day. But yes, I was dealing with my cyclones of children while my partner was camping in the desert. And so we thank you for joining us again today. While we do a rapid fire of women's news with Lauren and Sarah. How are you feeling about it?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Oh, bring it on. I'm totally ready for this. And can I just say, as a ragey point, based on what you just said about everyone like parenting little people and people do it every day? The people that say to me when I had small children that would say to me, Oh, I remember those times when my children were small, but you know what? It doesn't get any easier. Big people, big problems. And my response to that is to call that bullshit out because when you are not getting enough sleep, and when children are physically dependent on you for everything and they're in their brain pruning phase, you know, three, four years old or whatever, and their emotional regulation isn't so great, it is fucking hard.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

They're not very independent.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

They're not either.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Absolutely not. No criticism.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

So fuck off to the people that want to tell me that having older children is just as hard as having younger children. I appreciate different issues, but as a mum, if I'm not getting good sleep and I feel like shit, you can't parent well, and it is just really hard. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

So hats off for you. I appreciate that. Yeah. We will take a moment. I am having a heaps normal today. And Sarah, what are you drinking? A bit of a gin and soda situation for me. Yeah. I'm not there yet on the soda, but I appreciate your commitment to the drink. Oh, I'm committed. So how are you feeling about today? Because I have literally only just given you a rundown of the topics that I'm gonna fire out there for our reaction today. It's a bit different to the way that we usually do.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

That's true. And for our listeners out there who might think that we are just always talking off the top of our heads, we actually do prepare because we value your time and energy. We do.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

We do prepare. We we're like little Girl Scouts. We like to be prepared. But today we're not as prepared. We've just kind of decided we're gonna wing it. Let's do it. We're gonna be those women today. Living on the edge. Living life on the edge. So, quick fire issues. We are gonna start with the light topic of termination of pregnancy. Barnaby Joyce this week has waded in to the abortion debate, the never-ending abortion debate. Barnaby Joyce, One Nation, they're obviously seeing this as a political opportunity for them and their voters. It's something that they've got in common with some YouTube influencers who've also been talking about termination and pregnancy this week. But I think we'll get into that in more detail in another episode because it's a really deep issue that requires a lot of care. It does. And because we can get into all kinds of tangents, like people using pictures of sugar glider fetuses and pretending that they're human fetuses. So that's a whole thing that has also happened this week. But how do you feel about Barnaby? The reason for the bonk ban wading into conversations about women's uteruses.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

I just resent the beast that is Barnaby Joyce weighing in on anything to do with women. I think he is an abhorrent, vile man, both physically and whatever happens internally for that man. I don't mind saying something outrageous in that space. I'm not usually one that goes for a personal insult, but I thoroughly believe he deserves it. If he was a person that was trying to engage honestly in conversations that would actually make lives better for people, he would know to stay out of this one. He is all about the sensationalism and making the attention about himself. That's what I have to say about that. He is he's not even worth providing two minutes of content for, to be honest. Wow. Tell us how you really feel.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

And that is off the top of my head with no preparation. I agree, but I do I do want to just focus for a moment on this idea about we shouldn't be allowing people to have abort sex-selective abortions. Like that's this thing that's happening in great numbers across Australia. There is just so much that is made up, really. It's the right wing playbook. It is the right wing playbook. It's very Trumpy. It's the war on women. It is the war on women.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah, absolutely. This painting women as superficial as someone would have to be in order to make decisions like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Based solely on that. This is such a sensitive topic. And I have spoken with women who are friends and family who have experienced termination and pregnancy loss, both and all, and those that haven't. And nothing raises the emotional temperature like this topic for women because it means so much to us. And I'm gonna say us as a collective. Yeah. This stuff is it it hurts our heart to have to have these sorts of conversations. Absolutely, yes. And that's absolutely that's aside that puts aside my belief that women should be able to make decisions based on what their body needs, their health needs, etc., at the time. This is solely about a person's decision to terminate a pregnancy.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Agreed. Totally agree. And the whole sugar glider component of this discussion is so wild because actually I think a lot about the fact that people are sharing images every day on social media that they don't know what the source of the photo is. They don't know the circumstances of the photo. They certainly don't have consent to share that photo. And quite often it's proven that it's in some completely different set of circumstances than the poster is trying to elicit a response from. So it is really frustrating that it keeps being used as this kind of political football because it just compounds the anguish for women who are going through this, and there will be many, many women who will be at home thinking about decisions that they are making for themselves, which for many women will be very, very challenging, traumatic, and Barnaby's face is on the TV having an opinion on it. It's really frustrating. Anyway, we said quick fire, so we'll keep going.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

True, can I just say, as a last piece there as well, is to absolutely say that women going through this, many of them will have partners that are feeling just as deeply about this stuff as well. So though on the outset, some of this stuff feels like an attack on women, it's an attack on humanity because it affects men in this space as well, good men who are standing with their partners in what sometimes is the worst decision that you will ever have to make. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Completely, completely agree. Completely agree. So if we're going to keep with this tenant, and this is one that I didn't even say to you in the three minutes before we started recording, putting me on the stage. If we're gonna go in the right-wing playbook and its impacts on women, Pauline Hansen also, back to One Nation. Pauline Hansen, that great champion of women, has been going viral once again today, not for her planes, but for well, actually no, for her planes. She was being asked by a journalist about whether she had travelled cattle class today. It was a young woman, young woman journalist, who got very firmly put back in her place and her credibility challenged by Pauline Hansen, which to me instantly made me think about the way in which Donald Trump treats young female journalists. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

What do I think? What did she say?

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Oh, she said, I'm not gonna answer ridiculous questions like that from people like you. Sky that was that's not the exact that's not the exact wording. That's my paraphrasing, but that's the that's the gist of it. And then, you know, you've got no credibility. How do you call yourself a journalist? You know, go go away and like learn some things, missy.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Can I say there are a lot of similarities between Donald Trump and Pauline Hansen? Not just their politics, not just the colour orange. I would also suggest that there are some cognitive low IQ challenges there for both of them as well that drive them into these really low caliber comments. That's where they're forced. It's political opportunism. It is political opportunism. It's also schoolyard bullying tactics. I'm the big man. If I speak loud enough and I'm nasty enough, you'll shut up because you're too nice. So is Pauline being the big man? She's trying to be. She is trying to be. She's a big orange swinging dick.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Tell us how you really feel. Oh, I'm feeling the rage today, baby. And for those who are listening, we do have a like a practice military operation that happens here every year. It is happening over Sarah's house. So if you can hear some high-powered aircraft in the back of our podcast today, just think about freedom. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Really? It's the sound of freedom.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

So, next one.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

All right.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Victoria. The Victorian government is providing the green whistle for IUD insertion through their women, women's sexual and reproductive health hubs for free. And there's going to be a free provision of contraceptive services in every state and territory across the country. Good announcements from the federal and Victorian government. What do you think? Fuck yes. Free. I've never actually had an IUD, but I understand that they're very painful and I believe that to be true.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yes. I haven't either. But this is my understanding from friends that have. Yeah. And I say, why not? If there is a way to provide some relief from that sort of discomfort, provide it.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Why did it take so long?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

That's our question.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

It's a great one.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Another story that we saw this week that I'm surprising you with again. Surprise! But this is so good. I'm see, I'm reacting before I even tell you and get your reaction. But 300 women pooling their resources coming together to buy a $2.3 million chateau for adult-only, women-only retreats, activities. What do you think? When are we doing it? Oh who's interested?

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yep, Righto ladies, how do we do this? I think it's fucking brilliant. And do you know what? As women, we are the village makers. We are the community builders. So this is our zone of genius. Yeah. If only we could get out of the trenches of our mental load, etc., long enough to be able to think up brilliant ideas like this. I think it's an absolute fucking winner. And imagine providing a place where women can actually go and they all are part owners of this thing. Yeah. So they get to go and relax. They've created exactly what they want. Speedy yourself. Surrounded by the women. Do you know what? It does remind me, I love the story, and it does remind me when COVID hit. And for those of you not in the Northern Territory, so we had our borders shut for some time. And we have a little place out of town, Howard Springs, where there were dongers, etc., that people would go to during uh COVID. You did? I did. Was it a great experience? It was fine.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

I had a two-year-old.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Oh, with you?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Yeah. It's a story for another day. Okay. But yeah, I do. We can read it to that. Well done, Department of Health.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

My brain went to that place of do you know what? I reckon there would have been some women that would have absolutely loved that idea of that forced quarantine somewhere away from the relentlessness of parenting, work, the house, domestic stuff, the mental load, etc. When I got COVID the first time, it was just after the borders had opened. And COVID in the Northern Territory. That's right. All used people from down south bringing your COVID up here.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Southerners.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

And I hadn't really been anywhere. It was quite a surprise. I was feeling unwell and everything and did the test and I was genuinely shocked because I had been to the post office and that's it. And it was kind of the time when no one had had COVID here. So to be honest, I was a little bit of a celebrity. And particularly for my fellow peeps in WA, shout out to the people that call me to ask me if I was dead yet. Were you like patient zero in the indeed? No, I wasn't patient zero. But it was relatively new, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

And so it was during the time when when you got the diagnosis, you had to quarantine yourself for seven days.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

So I lived in a great house at the time where we could actually do that. Hats off to the people living in apartments in Melbourne that experienced the worst quarantine conditions ever. However, here, for me, seven days, I kind of wasn't overly unwell. I had a bit of a cold, etc. I was actually okay. But I had dinner made for me every night. Shout out to my then husband and family. The children would deliver my meals to the door, knock on the door, run away. And when I opened the door, they would hide behind something. So I wouldn't make them sick. But honestly, I sat in bed, I watched movies, I did some work. I had the fucking best week of my life up to that point. It was so great. And I used to think of maybe at that point I could sell the picture of my COVID test to other women who or give it away, sorry, to other women who maybe wanted to experience something as amazing.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Exactly. And children running away from you.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

These are the things that uh crazy women think of sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

I love it. Yep. So we all just have to make time for the chateau. That's the moral to that story. I I think it's fabulous. Well done, women. Let us know, ladies. Okay, Bonnie Blue. You know who Bonnie Blue is? I do. Yes. You do. Yep. So for people playing along who don't know, Bonnie Blue's a very well-known adult sex worker. Performer. Okay, thought I had to think about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Performer? Yes. She actually does have the sex. She does have the sex. She's very well known for having the sex. And well known for trying to have as much sex as possible with as many people as possible.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

In a very short time frame. Yes. And for her antics over in Bali where she was not appreciated. She was not very culturally respectful, let's just say that much. She's pregnant. Bonnie Blue is pregnant. It's her first pregnancy, but we understand. And went and did an interview and said that her great idea for her baby shower is to invite the public along and make it a golden shower. She made the interviewer really uncomfortable. The interviewer said she was uncomfortable and asked whether she felt that she might have her children taken away from her. It was very interesting. So Bonnie Blue has hit back and talked about all the basically dirty old families that she sees around the place where their kids look like tramps, and if they're all right, then she'll be fine. What do you think about the golden shower? Baby shower.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Oh, sorry, I'm going to start laughing for five seconds before I answer. Uh look, she is a prolific marketer, isn't she?

SPEAKER_00 17:34

She's a shock jock.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Like the sex entertainment world.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

That's how she makes her money. Would I expect a period of perhaps in reflection in her new state that she's in? I don't know. I don't know the woman, possibly not. But at the end of the day, her brand lives on. So what do I think about the idea of a golden shower? No thanks.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

I agree. No thanks for me as well. But you do you. Bonnie Blue, she probably has. She probably has. Today and yesterday. Who knows? The bit that really gave me the ick, though, I kind of go, you know what? Pregnant women, they have sexual desires. Absolutely. And their partners desiring them when they're pregnant. That's all great, perfectly healthy. You don't stop being a sexual being. In fact, for a lot of women, when you're pregnant, it's like, hello. Yep. Let's go. But you know, I'm only speaking from my straw pole of one, but it happens, right? It it happens. So it's it's not that part. The bit that gives me the ick is like a baby shower is actually about celebration of mum and baby. And that bit just feels making that really sexual is icky. But we all know what she's gonna do, and you're right, that the fact that we all know that is making her mooler.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

And maybe also it's an opportunity for us to reflect on ourselves and start to understand why we feel challenged in these sort of conversations as well. Look, for me, I'm just gonna need more detail. Like, I want to know, is there food on the table while this is happening? Because that doesn't sound very hygienic to me.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Do you want to join in and you're just checking? Um, please let Sarah know whether there's going to be chips and dips. Ooh, uh look and whether it will be far enough away.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

My I have many a proclivity, is that the word? However, this is not one of them for me. I'm going to share a secret with people that are listening that golden showers are not really something that turns me on. So I don't understand where she's coming from in this respect. All I know is it totally fits her branding. I would expect it. So I think we need to pay it the respect it deserves, have a bit of a chuckle and say, you do you, lady.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

But don't eat the chips. So you chips. Okay, we're almost at the end of our rapid fire. The next one is this headline from the advertiser was up there today, but caused me to pause. Why women are ditching the pill and men are shouldering the load? Now that emphasis was mine, but they did change the colour of that men are shouldering the load, different colour. And then the caption is vasectomy procedures have nearly doubled in a decade as Australian men take on the contraceptive responsibility, and the pill's dominance has almost halved as a result. Full disclosure, didn't read the story, it was paywall, didn't need to. This is just a reaction to the headline. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 20:46

I really love how the words as a result paints a direct causal link. That's not entirely true. Well, well, that's not proven, is it? We don't actually know. Is it a direct result? Maybe it's not. Maybe there's a whole heap of men out there that are just like, you know what, I'm done having kids. I'm just gonna take this responsibility. It's not about a couple going, you know what, darling, you're the one that needs the snip, and I'm not going to take the pill anymore. We don't know that. I want to know the details. I always want to know the details.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

I also really want to know the details in these things. I do think that I can see, again, straw poll of one, I can see where there might be a link. I can say I am well and truly over the pill and the impact that it has on hormones and things like that. That you do, I think for some women, reach a point where if you if you've got a long term partner, if you don't want to have more children, that you can have that conversation and say, Well, hey, I've been actually messing around with my hormones since I was however old, teens for a lot of women. Don't want to do it anymore. Maybe it's time that you shoulder. Someone alone.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

It's so dramatic because there is another option here. Condoms. Now, I know what people think in a relationship. They're not ideal. Men in general, not a fan. And I can tell you what, I don't think women are a massive fan either. They're not great for the experience. But having said that, it is a real option. And yet this particular headline paints it as though it's almost like women are having some kind of tanty, and now men are picking up the slack for the things that they no longer want to do.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

They're going in for major surgery.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

It's ridiculous. There was a time when women were expected to get their tubes tied. Now that is major surgery.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

That's major surgery. And if you think about women carrying children and the amount of women who have C-sections, also major surgery.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Major abdominal surgery. And the only abdominal surgery that you'll ever have where there is zero prehab and rehab attached to that. Yeah, yeah. Just get up and be a mother and carry on with your life.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

While you feel like your guts are going to fall out. Exactly. Yep. A thousand percent. Anyway, come on the advertiser, you can do better. Today, Leslie Groff, who was Epstein's personal assistant for about 18 years, was in front of the oversight committee in the US on the Epstein files and the investigation. She's mentioned in the files around 150,000 times. I'm presuming that's just in the files that have been released, so we don't actually know. Probably is much more than that. And apparently, even though she was booking in massages for him every single day and knew how much of a push there was, how much he prioritised this, apparently knew nothing about what was going on. And it's worth mentioning as well that I believe she was interviewed the first time Jeffrey Epstein was convicted of soliciting sex with a minor. So what are your thoughts? What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 24:06

My thoughts are anyone connected with Jeffrey Epstein that hangs in circles that include people like Trump and other questionable people. I am quite comfortable with the idea that anytime their lips are moving, they're lying. I'm quite comfortable with that. She's a personal secretary. She was probably paid very well for what she does, I would assume.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yes. Very, very well. Right. I think the the story goes that she was going to leave to have her own child and that Jeffrey Epstein really upped her salary and her conditions to ensure that she didn't trot off into the sunset uh after having the baby. I bet. And had gloated somewhere about paying his personal assistance exceptionally well.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Yep. No doubt. What a great way to make sure that you have enduring loyalty and people's lips aren't too loose, right? And a lot of the people at work for him, my understanding is they all had non-disclosure agreements anyway. So I'm sure maybe she had. She must have had some kind of confidentiality agreement going.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Well, something happened where I think with Ghlaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, when they were, you know, convicted the second time round, but that some of them were granted immunity as co-conspirators in exchange for information. I don't know whether Leslie Groff is one of those, but she's one of those women that potenti that potentially falls into that category. Who knows? We don't know. I just think if you are calling people, women, young women, to book in massages, can't get through to that one because she's in a casting call for a movie because she's modelling and an actress. Can't get through to that one. Oh well, here's my other favourite, call her. As if you don't. Come on. Every single day. No.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

How many massages does this man need?

SPEAKER_00 26:09

But also, how stupid does this woman think the rest of us are?

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Okay. No, she's just protecting herself. Of course she is, because there's a stain that exists around that man and everyone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Yep, there sure is, and we're keeping eyes on it because again, we've said this before, it does say something about the way in which we treat women and girls and value them and want to get to the crux of things so that we can actually make things better.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

And more so than that, for me, this story is all about power. Oh, totally. And so we have to keep talking about it because it reminds us that if we get complacent and we let this story slide, then it's another group of very powerful rich people that get to get away with doing some really abhorrent things.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Well, potentially the biggest that we know about in modern memory.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

And you think about it, it a lot of it is now out in the open and it's still not enough. No. To bring people to proper accountability. No. So your question you asked several podcasts ago was when will it be enough? I just don't know if it'll ever be enough because the limit does not exist. It also requires a tipping point, doesn't it? Now, if I was more organized, because I'm not, because we didn't discuss this really beforehand, but the uh is there, is it a theory or there's research out there that talks about, you know, if you have a couple of people thinking about a particular thing or wanting to take action on something, nothing is going to happen until more people join and there becomes a tipping point in which the people that are reluctant to join will finally see that the odds are no longer on their side around keeping quiet or doing nothing. And so then they will join. What is that tipping point for the Epstein mess? Because it doesn't seem like we're there yet.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

For some of them, it's I'm leaving the job, therefore I now feel brave enough, or it'll be the midterms when maybe the power changes in structurally. Um and he's hoping. So we'll keep watching. Jacinta Allen being having to deal with being on billboards in the paper with a witch's hat on with the words ditch the witch.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

And I also saw the meme, I think, not meme, sorry, someone had graffitied.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Yes, yes, yes, about to rape her. Yes, yep. On a bus stop.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

On a bus stop. Yeah. Disgusting, vile, abhorrent, I don't know. I I don't know how to have words around this other than when I saw Julia Gillard weigh in on this because she obviously was at the receiving end of the Ditch the Witch bullshit. This is more than a decade ago. Come on, people, you're so not original. You are attacking women for being women. At least be more creative. My question is, what the fuck are you doing with your time? Go and do something productive rather than attacking people. It's disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

If you are committed to the misogyny, at least make it friggin' original because we're really bored by you.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Totally bored by now. These people are disgusting. And this woman is just out there trying to do a job. Like, come on. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Absolutely. I mean, Tony Aber ate onions whole with skin on.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Anyway. You don't want to go into him being the president of the Liberal Party?

SPEAKER_00 29:42

No. No, no, not today. Not today. I think I'm gonna move us on to our glimmers. Do you have a glimmer for today?

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Well, I actually thought we were going to use the, you know, hundreds of women getting together to buy their own retreat. I think so. As a glimmer. Yes. Sorry, I uh let's use a personal glimmer, and I feel like I'm shouting over all of this aircraft. All of the freedom business. Oh, so much freedom, I can almost smell it. Is you and I went for dinner the other night. We went to Pee-Wee's, which is a shout out to Pee-Wee's. Always amazing service, fantastic food, and what an amazing view.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

We had such a lovely chat. It's beautiful dry season up here. So just the night was just perfect.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

It was. That was my little glimmer for the week. Thank you. That will be my glimmer too, because you treated me to a lovely night out, and it felt very special and lovely. And you bonded with the waitress Sova, your hate of coriander, which I learned, so I learned something new about you, but it's too late now. So it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

And on that note, as well, with the glimmer, is part of that glimmer is again, shout out to Katie. We have shouted out to Katie before as uh my resident drug dealer. I say that in jest. Uh, but Katie provided us with the means to be able to do that, and we love you.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

I don't even know her, and I love her. Yeah, she feels like she knows you now. It's great. I feel like I know her. Thank you, Katie. And with that, we are going to say Ray John. We do have some exciting things, I think, in the pipeline, and you know, we really appreciate you coming along for the ride. We do. Ray John. Ray John.