More than 1500 people fill Civic Park for the Newcastle Women's March 4 Justice

She wore black boots, a black bra, black shorts and in black marker, wrote on her chest the words 'Cleavage is not consent'.

Her stomach, 'Nobody asked what my rapist was wearing'.

The message on her back read 'Boys will be boys', with the last word crossed out and replaced with 'held f***ing accountable'.

The words on her legs challenged onlookers to 'Question your privilege', 'Interrogate your internalised misogyny' and said 'We want justice'.

"I am a survivor of rape and I felt that this was the best and most efficient way of communicating my grief and my anger, my pleas to the community of Newcastle that survivors, women, non-binary people in our community, we want justice and we want to feel safe," Ms Croft said.

"We're tired of having to protect ourselves from the moment we step outside the door.

"We are exhausted and this has to stop."

Ms Croft said she wanted to represent every person "who has been assaulted, raped, groomed and silenced".

"I'm doing it for them," she said.

"We've had enough and we're not having it anymore."

Ms Croft, 18, was one of more than 15 women who shared stories of sexual assault and discrimination in an open mic session at the Newcastle March 4 Justice in Civic Park on Monday.

Police said there were 1500 in the crowd.

Organisers put the number at between 2300 and 2500.

The event was born in response to the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, the historic rape allegation against Attorney-General Christian Porter and Sydney schoolgirl Chanel Contos' gathering of testimonies of harassment and sexual assault.

It was one of more than 40 events tied to a petition that makes 10 demands of the government.

These include full independent investigations into all cases of gendered violence and timely referrals to appropriate authorities; lifting public funding for gendered violence prevention to world's best practice; and enacting a federal Gender Equality Act.

Keynote speakers slammed the police and justice systems for putting women at a disadvantage and demanded change.

Warlga Ngurra Women and Children's Refuge caseworker Liann Taffe spoke about the difficulties and "injustices" that women fleeing domestic violence faced.

Ms Taffe said the government was supporting victim blaming and outdated patriarchal decisions and actions.

"One thing we do know is in the future you won't be put on the pedestal and the way you will be remembered to the younger generation? You will be held in contempt."

Survivor Helen Cummings said there was anger across the country, "fury, white hot rage, and sadness, frustration, loss of hope, despair and worst of all, grief".

Ms Cummings said it "made my blood boil" when the speciality Family Court was abolished.

"The Prime Minister said this week in relation to Christian Porter, who is the highest law officer in the land, about the allegations he said 'There are not two laws in this country, there are not two rules in this country, there are not two processes in this country, there is one, the rule of law'," she said.

"That was the moment my anger turned to white hot rage. The reason we are here today is that we know this is clearly not true. There are two rules, two processes and two laws, one for them and one for us."

Activist and educator Lynda-June Coe said Australia was founded on racial and sexual injustice.

"Black women, black bodies, black children have been raped and murdered in this country for over 250 f---ing years," she said.

"Stand up, come to the frontline, let's burn this system to the ground."

The event was also a safe place for women to share deeply personal and in some cases harrowing experiences of sexual assault and discrimination.

Some spoke on behalf of mothers and friends who weren't able to attend.

Others spoke of losing children to abusive former partners and a lack of support.

A few spoke of child sexual abuse by family members.

Arden Cassie said women would no longer accept deplorable behaviour from male leaders and inaction on the toxic culture.

"How the hell did we forge a society where half the population lives at the mercy of the other half?" she asked.

"How is it that our measure of privilege is decided over nothing more than a coin toss made at conception? Today we are gathered together to say no more."

Ms Cassie addressed Prime Minister Scott Morrison, saying she was "shocked that you thought having a wife and two daughters was something you needed to have to understand that sexual abuse is bad".

"I expected more," she said.

"I expected you to be better. But instead you turned and used the women in your life as a political shield instead of standing on your own two feet and drawing a clear line in the sand for all to see."

She said Australians expected their leaders to be "the best of us", but they had fallen "profoundly short".

"Today we demand that you pull your head out of the sand and acknowledge the epidemic that is occurring behind the closed doors of our Parliament and our public service," she said.

"These are the buildings in which decisions are made that shape our nation and they reek of gendered abuse, harassment and violence and it is time to call in the cleaners."

Another woman spoke about being sexually assaulted by her stepfather when she was 12.

"My high school made me go to the police station but because I was so scared to say anything they sent me on my way and never checked in," she said.

She had to live with him until she was 17.

"Because I was so terrified to see him we had an arrangement where I would stay upstairs and eat in my room while everyone else was in the kitchen and dining room," she said.

"At the time I thought that was a great idea, I got to live at home with my mum and sister, but I was still terrified.

"Now that I have obviously left that situation I realise how f***ed up that is. That I wasn't allowed to sit with my siblings or my mum and eat my meals, that I had to hide away and he got to be with everyone else."

Aly James said she was wearing her pink "sexual assault dress".

"I have worn this dress to two separate events and on both of those [days] I was sexually assaulted," she said.

"I haven't worn this dress in public since those events... I've worn it around my house and with my friends to try and take away the power this dress had over me, so when I heard this was happening I felt in my heart this was the time to wear it in public."

She said she'd been assaulted other times too.

Georgia Killick said she stood as a survivor alongside every person present.

"I am sick of the tie that binds me together with people and women I love [being] sexual assault and harassment," she said.

"I say enough, no more, and why do we have to have rallies like this? Why are there not rallies for men saying they will do better and they will deliver better services to us and they will believe us?

"Our stories matter... we will change this and we will make a difference."

Survivor Jacinta Mortell thanked men and allies for attending, but said "this is not where this fight ends".

"You have to talk to your friends, you have to call out their behaviour, their sexism, their rape jokes, you have to fight the institutions that silence us," she said.

"You have to educate yourself on enthusiastic consent and rape culture and acknowledge your own past and present behaviour."

Survivor Yasmin Ling, 20, expressed her fury.

"I am angry, I am over it, I am done - it's not all men but it's enough that every single woman I know has a story," she said. "Tell me how that is right?"

Liv Croft said everyone needed to have conversations about sexual assault.

"If you are under the impression these topics of discussion do not personally concern you, I assure you that you are wrong.

"You know family members, friends, colleagues, roommates, neighbours, teachers, baristas, bartenders, retail workers, small business owners, sex workers, doctors, nurses, bus drivers, cleaners, tradies, who have been raped or assaulted or groomed or groped or silenced," she said.

"Or who have raped, who have assaulted, who have groomed, groped or silenced others, or perhaps a combination of both.

"Regardless, this discussion concerns you."

Ann Stevenson asked attendees to raise their hands if they'd experienced gender discrimination at work, including being ignored, talked over the top of or "mansplained" to at a meeting; being told they were on a committee as the token woman to fit a diversity policy; and reporting bullying and being told it's just the way the perpetrator communicated.

"I ask you to share your voice and encourage others to do so and if you see one of us lose our fire, hold them up and help them reignite it," she said.

"Let's not lobby lawmakers, let's become the f***ing lawmakers."

Paterson MP Meryl Swanson attended the Canberra march.

"This feels like a threshold moment where people are fed up," she said.

"Today out the front of Parliament House I met a woman who has been protesting since the 70s, she was saying enough!

"The people who gathered here and around the country are clearly saying, enough!

"A Prime Minister who turns his back on this groundswell is in danger of looking very out of touch."

EARLIER

SEVERAL hundred people have filled Civic Park to call for an end to gender discrimination and sexual assault, as well as to voice anger at the federal government's handling of rape allegations.

Attendees at the Newcastle Women's March 4 Justice - many of them wearing black and red and carrying signs - gathered from midday to listen to three keynote speakers: Warlga Ngurra Women and Children's Refuge caseworker Liann Taffe, survivor Helen Cummings and educator and activist Lynda-June Coe.

They also listened to the personal testimonies of more than 15 women, who volunteered to share their experiences of discrimination and assault and demand change.

Survivor Yasmin Ling, 20, expressed her fury.

"I am angry, I am over it, I am done - it's not all men but it's enough that every single woman I know has a story, tell me how that is right?

"Do not let this be a display of performative activism - be active outside of this space, stand up for what you believe in, call out your friends, don't put up with sh**, because the more it goes on the more it's seen as acceptable and it's 2021.

"This ends, this should have ended a long time ago, this should have ended when women were fighting for the right to vote."

Attendee Sarah Harden carried a sign that read 'I won't shut up' on one side and 'mother, daughter, sister, human' on the other. The words mother, daughter and sister were crossed out.

"I feel filled with rage and I think it's time for women and allies and people that are suffering and vulnerable to be heard," she said.

"There's a huge accountability problem in this country, whether it's in workplaces, or institutions or society in general.

"We talk about listening to women and we don't. I have had it."

The event was one of more than 40 across the country tied to a petition that makes 10 demands of the government.

These include full independent investigations into all cases of gendered violence and timely referrals to appropriate authorities; fully implementing the 55 recommendations in the Australian Human Rights Commission's Respect@Work report of the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces 2020; lifting public funding for gendered violence prevention to world's best practice; and enacting a federal Gender Equality Act.

More to come