Bettina Arndt

Bettina Mary Arndt (born 1 August 1949) is an Australian writer and commentator who specialises in sex and gender issues. Starting as a sex therapist, she established her career in the 1970s publishing and broadcasting as well as writing several books. In the last two decades she has abandoned feminism and attracted controversy with her social commentary and her views on sexual abuse, domestic violence and men's rights advocacy.

Early life Arndt was born in Penrith, England, to the economist Heinz Arndt (1915 – 6 May 2002) and Ruth (née Strohsahl) (20 March 1915 – 20 March 2001), the youngest of three children.

Between 1973 and 1976 the Australian Broadcasting Control Board had ruled that all TV and radio programs in which Arndt took part in had to be pre-recorded so that they could be approved by station management before being transmitted.

Commenting on the "attempts to cancel her voice in the public arena", Anderson commented that "Bettina has faced attempts to cancel her voice in the public arena and yet I think some of the work she is doing, some of the research she's putting forward on the failing of so many of our young men now cannot be ignored."

On partnerships and parenting When Australia's first female prime minister, Julia Gillard (Labor), was elected in 2010, Arndt criticised the new prime minister for setting a bad example by living in a de facto relationship, or as Arndt described it, "marriage lite". They looked at 1700 peer reviewed articles, all research into domestic violence, and what they found was this overwhelming pattern of two way violence with women more often than men instigating violence." Jacinta Masters, from Gender Equity Victoria, says the statistics Arndt uses have "been roundly dismissed by experts as inaccurate and a misrepresentation".

Arndt defended a comment by a Queensland police officer that a man who had killed his wife and children by immolation may have been a "husband being driven too far by issues".

Doctors Against Violence Towards Women (DAVTW) also called for Arndt's award to be withdrawn.

In response to the Senate vote Arndt said conservative MPs had "caved in" to "feminist power" and urged her supporters to "maintain the rage" and mobilise against what she believes are "feral mobs trying to take [her] out".

In September 2020, it was reported that Arndt would retain her Australia Day award after the council announced that they were only prepared to strip awards if they were found to be based on false or misleading information or if the awardee had been convicted of a crime and all legal avenues of appeal had been exhausted.