Prosecution for $10 sanitary product a bloody shame

A women’s charity has offered to cover any legal costs or fines for a WA woman who has been charged over the $10 theft of sanitary products. Share the Dignity founder Rochelle Courtenay said it was “disgusting” that a woman could be charged for allegedly stealing a product that should be as freely available as toilet paper. “It’s not OK to steal but it’s better than doing without,” she said. “I’d steal them. Wouldn’t you?” The 31-year-old woman’s alleged theft happened in January. The woman was unable to attend Geraldton Magistrates Court last week because she had COVID but her legal aid counsel, Veronica Randall, entered a plea of not guilty. Midwest Times reporter Anna Cox reported that Ms Randall told the court there had been negotiations for no charges to be pressed but, with the police prosecutor unable to confirm as much, a trial date has been set for next month. Share the Dignity, the not-for-profit that campaigns to make sanitary products available for those who cannot afford them has since offered to cover any legal costs or fines arising out of this case — and to give the woman a year’s worth of free sanitary products if she wants them. Amid the cost-of-living crisis, Ms Courtenay said she heard from women with well-paying jobs who could not afford to buy period products because paying the electricity bill, the mortgage, putting petrol in the car, and food on the table for the kids came first. “What we’re seeing is completely alarming,” she says. WA Police Minister Paul Papalia declined to comment on whether pursuing the woman for her alleged theft was a good use of police and taxpayer resources, given the case is before the court. In 2021 a Share the Dignity survey found one quarter of Aussie women have had to improvise on period products because of the cost. Ms Courteney said the results of a 2024 survey, which will be released in August, showed “things have gotten worse”. Campaigning by groups like Share the Dignity has made some progress in tackling period poverty in Australia. In 2019 the so-called “tampon tax” that classified sanitary products as luxury goods was axed. The WA Government — among others around the country — has put free period products into high schools and, from later this year, primary schools. This year’s Federal Budget included $12.5 million over four years to deliver period products to rural and remote First Nations communities.