The last month in Australia politics has definitely not been kind to the labour government with some pretty public negative press over their handling of the 2026 census questions. However, this is just one key moment which captured the publics attention amongst a series of events that have threatened to make the trans community an even greater target. Fore the most part these have had a positive outcome however the timing alongside the level of publicity will continue to encourage a further response from the extreme right. It is a clear example of the fact that in politics timing is everything and the fact it coincides with the US election campaign and the publication of related Anti trans rhetoric means a few of us might be holding our breath.
A Landmark case: Tickle Vs Giggle Verdict
The case brought by Roxanne Tickle against the Giggle for girls app based on discrimination due to her gender identity was always going to be significant moment for trans rights in Australia. It was the first time that any such case had been heard by the federal court and thus is important for setting a precedent for the future. The verdict in favour of Tickle sent a clear message that under Australian Law Trans Women are Women and are therefore protected from discrimination and exclusion form women only spaces. The fact that Justice Robert Bromwich stated that case law has found sex is “changeable and not necessarily binary” and dismissed the argument that sex was an immutable biological concept.
The verdict clearly affirms our protection under the sex discrimination act and provides a clear precedent for those attempting to classify us based on our sex at birth and received international coverage. It was no surprise therefore that the right-wing commentators had plenty to say about what this means for ‘protecting women’s spaces’ and Sky news of course was vocal in pushing the usual fear mongering. It was also not lost on certain politicians as well with Pauline Hanson declaring strong opposition to the ruling.
A deep betrayal – labour’s census division
5 Days after the Tickle vs Giggle Verdict the Albanese government announced their decision to abandon the proposed inclusion of LGBTQIA+ identities in the 2026 census and keep the 2021 model. This was clear betrayal as the government had committed to reforming the census to include questions as part of the their election platform with the ABS spending significant time developing the proposed questions. Beyond this however the Prime Minster’s explanation for the decision was evasive and deeply offensive at one point suggesting the the inclusion of questions would contribute to ‘divisive debates’. Unsurprisingly, it was a decision that sparked significant backlash form the LGBTQIA+ Community and meant that it became a story that dominated the political landscape for the next two weeks creating a platform for the potential harmful commentary which would have been completely avoided.
The strength of pubic outcry and a humiliating backflip
The government’s decisions regarding the census led to an immediate response with numerous community and human’s rights groups condemning the government’s decision. This quickly developed with social media campaigns, petitions and political commentary attacking the government culminating in several Labour MPs speaking out against the decision. It was such a significant outcry that Labour quickly started to backflip announcing on the 31st of August (wear it purple day) that a question on sexuality would be included in the census. If anything this only further put focus on the trans and gender diverse community as the ongoing public criticism became more targeted and highlights the absurdity of the Prime Minster’s original comments.
However, this admission from the government did not have the desired effect and pressure to include the trans community continued to grow. The next few days saw multiple major health organisations and the Australian Human Rights institute calling for change. The joint statement stated that failing to count Trans and Gender diverse Australians would lead to further “marginalization and disadvantage” and that inclusion was crucial for equal access to public health services. It was only a matter of time really until the government backflipped once again and the admission by treasure Jim Chalmers was welcome and has seemingly ended the debate despite the lack of proper inclusion for intersex Australians. The absences of the Prime Minster from this final admission was noticeable as he clearly tried to distance himself from the ongoing political criticism.
“Blockers are safe” to nobody’s great surprise
Amongst the political fallout from the Census debacle the Sax Institute released it’s report on an updated evidence check on the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria. The independent review was commissioned by the NSW government in response to a Four Corners story on the Westmead Hospital Gender Clinic in July 2023. The recent findings concluded that Blockers are “safe, effective and reversible” and while the Sax institute highlighted that the available evidence remains low in part because randomised trials are unethical. Despite these limitations the Sax review looked at 82 eligible studies and concluded the the available evidence supported the findings of the 2023 evidence check.
Realistically, the review got some air play from the Australian media but due to the ongoing context of trans rights and access to health care around the world it received international attention. Notably LGBTQIA friendly news feeds and advocates have picked up the Sax review as further evidence to debunk the heavily biased Cass review and subsequent ban on puberty blockers in the UK. It is the latest in a series of peer reviewed studies, professional organisations and independent research that call into question the findings and method of the Cass review. It means that Australia is going to continue to be part of the ongoing scientific debate and it remains something that could easily draw attention from the right wing media over time.
Sex discrimination is apparently now on the agenda
Unfortunately, positive advances for the trans community is often meet with a reaction from the extreme right and Thursday this past week saw Pauline Hanson propose a change to the Sex Discrimination Act. This was a direct response to the Tickle Vs Giggle verdict just a few weeks ago as she moved to amend the Act to recognise biological sex. This is once again similar to some of the promises from the recent UK election with the Tories proposing to change the 2010 Equality Act and is probably where got the idea. However, to actually put this before the senate right after the Census backlash is brazen and I wounder if Hanson thought in light of the PMs desire to avoid ‘divisive debates’ labour might let it slide to a first reading or perhaps she saw an opportunity for a bit more publicity.
Regardless of her real motives Hanson’s motion was blocked by the Green’s and Labour. It is rare that bills proposed in the Senate are crushed before the first reading with Greens Senator Steph Hodgkins-May highlighting Hanson’s public attempt to “deny the existence of the trans and gender diverse community”. The strong reaction is perhaps what Hanson was hoping for so she could once again attempt to play the victim and get some mainstream attention, after all no one in the southern states will take her seriously. The move has definitely made some waves and concerningly showed that their is some sympathy for Hanson’s views with a 32 to 27 vote. Although blocked on this attempt Hanson has issued a press release to continue fighting for the “rights of real Australian women”. Unfortunately, a year out from the next federal election I doubt we have heard the last on this any time soon.
Another broken promise from the Australian Government
Considering all this it would probably be ideal to have some protection from hate speech and vilification. At least we were hoping for some with Labour’s promised ‘Hate Speech’ Laws but once again they have failed to deliver. The laws were always going to make some waves regarding the potential to impinge on freedom of speech but it was clearly a fight the government didn’t want to have. Instead they opted for an approach linked to directly inciting violence which is actually inline with a lot of current state legislation which ultimately means their is little effective change. This has of course got implications for a lot of minorities which are often the target for online abuse and hate speech. In light of the current climate and recent wave of events relating to the trans community without the promised protection we could definitely become a clear target.
Western Australia Abolish Gender Reassignment Boards
Another moment in a busy week for LGBTQIA news WA passed a long awaited bill to abolish the Gender Reassignment Boards. This means that Trans and Gender diverse people born in WA are no longer required to undertake medical treatment before seeking permission from the board to update their legal identification. The bill means it is now only NSW that require medical treatment for a legal name change although that seems unlikely to be updated any time soon. The Bill of course did not pass without any opposition however with right wing media like Skynews and the old ‘protect women’s spaces’ non-sense all raising it’s ugly head in the lead up to the vote. Amongst this positive news the WA government has also announced delaying legislation to ban conversion therapy unit 2025 despite it being a 2022 election promise and SA introducing a similar bill this week. It seems to me that there is a concern over doing too much too quickly and that progress on LGBTQIA rights and protections needs to be done gradually which means that governments are picking which fights are worth prioritising.
Obviously, there is plenty of positive developments and outcomes in these last few weeks with the trans community as we are currently protected by the Sex Discrimination Act and going to be recognised in the Census. However, everything comes at a cost and the highly publicised nature of these events due in part to Labour’s bungling means it that it is already starting to spur a reaction from the extreme right.
Leave a Reply