7 September 2006The Sydney Morning HeraldElicia Murray
Outraged scientists stormed out of a government-sponsored climate change conference dinner in Canberra last night, after the strippers booked as entertainment left them all hot and bothered.
One attendee said many of those who walked out of the dinner at Old Parliament House were women.
"I honestly could not believe my eyes when a woman covered in balloons started prancing around as delirious male scientists popped them with a pin," the person, who asked to remain anonymous, said in an email to smh.com.au.
"This was followed by a series of women on stage dressed in almost nothing making jokes about being ridden."
Red-faced conference organisers today issued an apology for the choice of burlesque entertainment, which was stopped after about 10 minutes of a planned 45-minute routine.
However, shadow environment minister Anthony Albanese has since called for a government investigation.
"This is appalling and completely inappropriate and the Australian government should immediately investigate how on earth this occurred," Mr Albanese said this afternoon.
The dinner was the social highlight of the 17th Australia New Zealand Climate Change Forum.
The three-day event at the Australian National University was sponsored by the Bureau of Rural Sciences at the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Australian Greenhouse Office, an arm of the federal Department of the Environment and Heritage.
The Australian Research Council Research Network for Earth System Science (an education and government networking organisation) and the Managing Climate Variability R&D Program also sponsored the event.
"This is ... supposed to be a gathering of scientists at a government-sponsored event in an already male dominated industry where it is hard enough for a woman to make inroads," the attendee told smh.com.au.
"If this is the Australian Government and male-dominated scientific community's idea of conference entertainment, God help us all."
Environment Minister Senator Ian Campbell told smh.com.au he was "appalled" at the inappropriateness of the entertainment . "As soon as I was told about this incident, I directed my department to immediately withdraw the $3000 sponsorship," Senator Campbell said.
Representatives from the Australian Greenhouse Office were among those who walked out.
The woman who starred in the balloon-popping show wearing fish-nets, hotpants, a bustier and a bra was Rebecca Gale, a psychology undergraduate at ANU.
