Stripper storm at climate meeting
September 7, 2006 - 3:47PM

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 scoop@theage.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.

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."

Representatives from the Australian Greenhouse Office were among those who walked out.

The deputy secretary of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Howard Bamsey, said the department was "seriously considering" withdrawing its sponsorship.

"The [department] considers the nature of the 'entertainment' to be highly inappropriate and we made our very strong concerns known to the conference organisers," Mr Bamsey said.

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.

The burlesque dance teacher and performer said she could understand why some audience members felt uncomfortable.

"It can make people feel a bit insecure and they don't know how to react."

However, she said not everyone was offended by the performance.

"I got some of the ladies to pop the balloons as well. I wasn't discriminating."

Ms Gale, who runs the classes in conjunction with the ANU Psychology Society, said the show's emphasis was more on tease than nudity.

The seven dancers ranged in age from their mid-20s to mid-50s, and included a lab technician, a sex therapist and a number of psychology students, she said.

"It's not like we were 18 and blonde with big boobs."

The dancer said in hindsight, it might have been better if the organiser who booked the entertainment, Professor Mike Hutchinson from the Centre for Resource and Environment Studies at the ANU, had told the scientists about the planned entertainment.

"I think he wanted it to be a surprise. And it was a surprise," she said.

Red-faced organisers issued the following statement at the closing session of the conference this afternoon: "The ANZ Climate Forum organising committee apologise for any offence taken at the forum dinner. The intent was light-hearted entertainment. In retrospect the choice of entertainment was inappropriate for the occasion.

We understand if the sponsors wish to withdraw. We trust that this will not reflect on the very productive contributions made by the ANZ Climate Forum. If any participant has further concerns please approach the committee directly."

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oh god, there's a picture:

You're not sposed to do extra work on the side when you signed on for that science job, girl.