Nearly 40,000 people sign petition.

The petition, objecting to John Laws’ comments to a rape victim, was today presented to 2SM.

2SM has also received 11,000 complaints about the way Laws treated the caller, according to GetUp.

John Laws did not accept the petition in person, which was presented to Jodie, while he was on air. While the petition was being presented he told his listeners:

“So why are there protesters outside the building. Well, because you’ve got a few self-appointed moral arbiters like GetUp! – which ought be called ‘shut up’ – and Destroy the Joint. Charming. Aren’t they clever little groups. They operate within the shadows of the internet. They’re constantly searching for reasons to be offended.”

He also reiterated his apology.

“If anybody took offence at the way I framed the questions, then of course I’m sorry, and I’ve already said I’m sorry.”

Listening to the show outside the studios, one GetUp member tweeted.

The petition objects to:

“Talkback radio misogyny [which] reached new lows late last week when 2SM radio host John Laws asked a caller whether the sexual abuse she’d suffered throughout her childhood was “her fault”. He even went so far as questioning whether she was “provocative” at the tender age of six. No child “provokes” sexual abuse.”

The group aims to show John Laws, 2SM management and the owners of Super Radio Network “that blaming sexual assault survivors on the air will not be tolerated by the Australian public.” 

The petition was delivered by a small group of people, including Dr Cathy Kezelman of Adults Surviving Child Abuse, JennaPrice and Erin from GetUp at the 2SM studios today.

Kezelman said Laws “perpetrated some very old and dangerous myths” about sexual assault at a time the community is pulling together to address child abuse through the royal commission. “He has implied that sexual assault can be the person’s fault, even a child’s fault, and he has tied it into a person’s appearance and being ‘provocative’.”