A group of Australia's most powerful women have honored Tom Cruise with an "Ernie Award." The award is handed out to companies and public figures who make the most derogatory public statements about women, and the 2006 Celebrity Ernie was bestowed upon Cruise for a comment he made about his girlfriend, Katie Holmes, when she was pregnant.

Cruise, who was dropped by Paramount Pictures for his recent public behavior, said during the pregnancy, "I've got Katie tucked away so no one will get to us until my child is born."

Four hundred women congregated in the New South Wales state parliament late Thursday to determine the recipients of the awards, which are named after a leader of trade union that had members who worked as sheep shearers.

The original Ernie is remembered for saying, "Women aren't welcome in the shearing sheds. They're only after the sex."

The political award went to Bill Heffernan, a member of Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government who criticized Labor MP Julia Gillard for not having any children.

Heffernan said, "Anyone who chooses to deliberately remain barren ... they've got no idea what life's about."

Cruise liner company P&O won the highest prize - the Golden Ernie - for one of its ad campaigns. The company issued postcards featuring women in bikinis that read "seamen wanted."