This is the man who once said of women, "I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas, simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons." Excuse me?

Twenty years later in a radio interview, he rhetorically asked, "If it’s true … that men have more power, generally speaking, than women, is that a bad thing?”

This is the lycra-clad Abbott along with other testosterone-soaked political leaders who have outraged women today... read George Brandis, Scott Morrison, Christopher Pyne, Peter Dutton... all showing their true colours in their contemptible treatment of Professor Gillian Triggs, eminent jurist and Human Rights Commissioner. They cannot tolerate criticism from a woman who has clearly taken them to task for their acceptance and indeed support for the cruel and barbaric treatment of refugees by the Australian government.

Our heroic Minister for Women has recently announced a $30 million "national awareness campaign" around domestic violence. At the same time as the awareness campaign was announced critical federal funds which actually supported services dealing with family violence were being stripped of their financial support.

We are past the point of needing to "raise awareness". We need action that will actually benefit the women and children who are abused, attacked, stalked and murdered every day by men. They deserve more protection, more support, not more "awareness".

Did we hear from our glorious leader when heartbreaking stories of sexual abuse of women and children from independent observers in the refugee camps were reported? No.

When Sarah Hanson Young sued Zoo Magazine successfully for its shameless objectification of her, did we hear a squeak from our Minister for Women? No.

Do I hear the Minister for Women plead on behalf of elderly single women living below the poverty line, or indigenous women who are 23 times more likely to be imprisoned? No.

Federal inner cabinet consists of nineteen members, two of whom are women. Outer cabinet has eight men, three women. Parliamentary secretaries consist of 10 men, three women.

While it is one thing for the women of Australia to be offended by their exclusion, it is quite another for all of us to see our future endangered by a narrow band of conservative alpha males set on returning us to a past that no longer exists.

The exclusion of women is the exclusion of diverse thinking. For our whole country, the price paid for the prime minister’s sexism may yet turn out to be another very costly mistake.