As I’ve been struggling with a few things it has been a while but the last month or so has seen plenty of trans related news and most of it is sounding familiar. It all to obvious now that here in Australia we are seeing some of the similar rhetoric that has been plaguing the US and UK. The fight to maintain our rights is well and truly on especially in the northern parts of the country and while there might be a few positives to keep hope alive, I feel like as long as One Nation can maintain their support trans people like myself are going to become more of a political football.

Lesbian Action Group continue to try to exclude trans women

Back in April the Lesbian Action Group (LAG) a group of approximately 15 people between the age of 20 to 80 won an appeal in the federal court. The appeal means that the original decision that the group was unable to discriminate against trans women set aside and the case reheard due to a failure of legal process. That means that something that started in October 2023 with the attempt to hold a public event at the Victorian Pride Centre (an institution that has a proud and well-known policy for inclusion of all LGBTQIA+ people) continues to go through the courts. It is sadly a small win for the LGB without the T crowd that captured the media attention.

LAG protest outside the Victorian Pride centre with several members wearing purple, green and white scarfs.

Personally, the fact that this group comprises less than 20 people and they could easily host a private event at someone’s home or a local venue I can’t help but think the whole thing is a bit of a political stunt to empower those that want to exclude trans woman. The fact that the group choose to protest using the Purple, Green and White colours once associated with the suffrage movement that have been repurposed by TERF movements around the world rather than the Lesbian Pride flag is a clear indicator of their desire to exclude trans women. Regardless the LAG case for an exception for the Sex Discrimination Act will now be reheard by the tribunal with a different presiding member so it still could be some time before there is any real result.

NSW act on LGBTQIA+ hate crime

Back in February figures were released that demonstrate a significant increase since 2023 in LGBTQIA+ related hate crimes across Australia. This didn’t surprise anyone in the community as the overwhelming increase in Anti – LGBTQIA+ messaging online and international trends over the last few years is well known. However, the numbers helped spark several governments into acting with Victoria establishing an inquiry into Anti-LGBTQIA+ hate crime to report in September however the NSW government went a step further and promised swift action. As a result, the Government introduced major reforms in March to increase penalties and crack down on hate crimes.

The laws which passed the Legislative council on the 2nd of June strengthen existing ‘Post and Boost’ laws and increases existing penalties for hate based violence including those making threats online. In addition, the reforms also introduce a new offence around louring people under false pretences including using dating apps which has become an increasing problem faced especially by gay men. While there is criticism of the NSWs focus on criminalisation and their unwillingness to address the factors that contribute to people become radicalised by extremist views, we are finally seeing some action to protect the community which is a positive sign.

Federal Court of Australia upholds discrimination verdict against Giggle for Girls

Back in 2024 trans woman Roxanne Tickle won her case of discrimination against the Giggle for girls platform founder, Sall Grover. Despite facial recognition software designed to prevent trans women from accessing the app marketed as a women only safe space Ms. Tickle had originally gained access, but her account was blocked after a manual review. The original court ruling found that this involved one act of indirect discrimination against Ms Tickle based on gender identity and she was awarded $10000 in damages. The case was a significant win for trans rights here in Australia as it showed that we were protected under the 2013 reforms to the Sex Discrimination Act including gender identity.

Unsurprisingly, Grover appealed the decision in the Federal Court of Australia while Ms Tickle launched a cross-appeal to argue she was directly discriminated against. Full Court dismissed Grover’s appeal and found there were two instances of direct discrimination. This led to a decision to double the original damages to $20000 including a contribution for aggravated conduct against Sall Grover for offensive behaviour. The decision continues to give clarity regarding the Sex Discrimination Act but seems set to led to an appeal in the High Court of Australia.

Calls to change the Sex Discrimination Act

Sadly, our community couldn’t really celebrate the Federal Court Decision and our ongoing protection from discrimination under the law as politicians were quick to use the case as justification to seek a change in the Sex Discrimination Act. Almost immediately after the verdict in May the Opposition Leader Angus Taylor promised to amend the act if the coalition won government meanwhile Nationals MP Alison Penfold proposed a private members bill that is currently before parliament to remove references to gender identity and enshrine a ‘biological definition’ of two genders in the Act.

It is a debate that has sadly become too familiar for the trans community. The so called need to protect ‘sex-based rights’ and keep women and girls safe has been a lie that has gone around the UK and USA. It is built on spreading fear that trans women are a threat and that we are deliberately trying to infiltrate women’s spaces to cause harm, at its core is the presumption that trans women are men. However, the stats don’t lie most of the sexual assault are perpetrated by someone known to the victim and often within the home. As I have broken down previously the conservatives have a clear strategy to represent persecution and exclusion as ‘protection’ without any evidence of a real threat as attacks in bathrooms are so statistically insignificant that it is hard to believe the paranoia. Despite this here we are with Australia wrestling with this same attempt to use a high school level of biology to define people and decide whether some of use deserve protection under the law.

Once again in all these debates around trans rights and public spaces it seems that trans men are completely invisible. Any such decision to make definitions based on biological sex would no doubt apply to all members of the trans community which includes some extremely masculine looking guys being classified under the law as female. As has regularly been pointed out overseas as soon as these definitions get applied to things like bathrooms, change rooms and even social media apps it becomes extremely messy. Afterall, if the Sex Discrimination Act was changed wouldn’t a trans man be legally allowed to use the Giggle App wouldn’t this create more problems and the potential for cis men to join.

Regardless of how problematic a desire to edit the Sex Discrimination Act to revert to biological definitions remains it continues to be lightening rod for the right side of politics. The fact that they are talking about changing a law to exclude a group which relates to less than 1% of the population should be considered absurd especially as numerous studies have found no evidence to suggest that Trans women are a threat in anyway. However, it is an easy target compared to targeting the growing problem of gender-based violence in Australia and perhaps more alarming it is an opportunity to reassert old gender-based divisions and undo years of progress on women’s rights.

Queensland is heading back to court on their Trans care ban

Despite the release of their review advising against such action into gender affirming care the Queensland government continued to maintain a ban on minors accessing care in the public sector. Now the ban having been struck down previously for insufficient consultation is heading back to court with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal approving a complaint brought by 12-year-old child with gender dysphoria to proceed as a class action. The decision will allow potentially more than 400 young people diagnosed with gender dysphoria who had not started treatment before the 2025 ban to join the claim. The claimant is asking for an overturn of the ban, a public apology from the Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls, and $50 000 in compensation for each member of the class action. If successful, the case therefore could cost the Queensland government millions but more importantly it will serve as a test case for other governments around the country considering such bans and could prevent broader action against the trans community. It will sadly take time for the case to run its course which will be little comfort for the kids suffering due to this ban, but it is a small win in the road to getting the treatment they need.

Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club Remakes

One Nation and their leader Pauline Hanson has been riding a huge wave of political support over the last 6 months with recent polling indicating that they are on track to be the next federal opposition and replace the coalition. However, the rapid increase in popularity and profile means that the party is going to come under more scrutiny with the need to define real policies and present these to the electorate as so far they have just been focused on grievances. This has meant that despite being in politics since 1996 Pauline Hanson was recently given the opportunity to address the National Press Club to outline her political platform. It was really no surprise to hear her target immigration, housing, radical Islam, Net Zero and of course ‘gender ideology’ however the surprise was her decision to take aim at paid maternity leave.

Hanson was finger pointing and targeting plenty of groups in her Press Club address.

The speech started by first having a swipe at First Nations people by highlighting the fact that she would not be doing one of those “divisive Welcome to countries” as this “beautiful country belongs to all Australian’s that were born here and those who have joined us.” Her decision to than pivot quickly to immigration really highlighted the hypocrisy of the statement as she targeted the “32% of our population, 8.8 million people who have been born overseas” she even went as far as calling out the fact that “51.5% were born overseas or had one parent born overseas.” and suggested that this is not what her Australia wants. It would seem politically unwise to call out most of the population, but Hanson has always played to a specific base however the increase appeal of One Nation and ground swell of support means she likely targeted some of that newfound support. Personally, as the daughter of Maltese immigrant that arrive after WW2, I’m sickened by the fact my identity as an Australian is called into question, it is reasoning reminiscent of Trumpism and other fascist regimes. A comparison that remained valid for most of the speech and was reinforced in Hanson’s closing statement that reinforced her nationalist views that seem to exclude First Nations people with a call for “One Nation under One Flag”. We only must look at the USA right now to see how this thinking sows’ disorder and divisions but sadly it seems people are unwilling to learn.

After calling out ‘radical Islam’ Hanson moved on to the cost of living and zeroed in on the energy cost. Here like other right-wing politicians, she attacked ‘Net Zero’ and ‘the hoax of global warming which is now climate change’ suggesting this is lie pushed by the Labor Government and not a commonly accepted scientific fact. However, the Government’s investment in renewable energies is all to blame for rising energy prices with no recognition to international market fluxions or recent price rises due to Trump’s war in Iran, it was all the government’s fault. It was therefore not surprising that Hanson promised to abolish all schemes to support and improve renewable energy and through her support behind Nuclear Power, a policy which didn’t really serve the coalition well at the last election. In this she highlighted the blow out cost of Snowy Hydro 2.0 which is rightly become a fascicle example of inflated building costs and poor projections. However, in this context the idea that Australia could develop nuclear on budget is ridiculously optimistic and realistically the Snowy Hydro situation just shows us what is likely to happen to any major project, and I feel like there is poor craft discussing both in the same speech.

Finally, we got to the “very important social and cultural issue facing this country” which of course relates to about 1% of the population or what Hanson referred to as “the transgender insurgency”. In this she took aim at Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Anna Cody among others and used references to Germaine Greer to ground her attack in something more than political rhetoric. However, her language throughout was the same as we have heard from around the world that paint Transgender People not as individuals looking to live our lives but as an ‘Ideology’ that is a “explicitly subversive” threat “infecting all of society” as “part of the propaganda being imposed on kids in classrooms”. She even goes as far as calling the “Transgender Movement” (notice once again no recognition that we are people) are a “militant force” and compares us to “militant Islam.” This whole section of her speech is a perfect example of dehumanising a minority by representing us as an ideology, movement and disease when we are just people trying to live our lives with the same rights as everyone else. It is rhetoric designed to stir hatred and fear to justify the targeting of a minority, and it is a tactic the world has sadly seen before. I have watched this language be weaponised in the USA against the trans community and hearing it here in one of our main political forums is frightening.

It’s sad that it takes an act of protest to highlight the facts

The only comfort for me and other minorities it seems from Hanson’s speech was the well-executed protest banner which slowly dropped down behind her as she spoke. It perfectly highlighted the discrepancy between the image of a politician that presents themselves as fighting for the Auzzie battlers but has recently spoken out about a pay rise to the minimum wage for 4 million Australians. It is a hypocrisy which can easily be seen in Hanson’s long voting record in the senate, whether it is refusing to support legislation to address price gouging or to support affordable housing her actions speak far more truth than her words.

The Green’s happy to call out Hanson’s hate

The Greens had a quick response to Hanson’s National Press club speech by repurposing her comments about a “Trans Insurgency” into their own political campaign. The party turning Hanson’s statement into a set of stickers for anyone that joins “the movement fighting to protect the rights of all transgender Australians”. Sadly, it seems like the response has been rather small in the grand scheme of things, but it is a smart idea but personally I wouldn’t mind some T-shirts. Still the disparity between the response and the growing support for One Nation is frightening.

Their efforts go beyond sarcastic quips as The Greens have also introduced legalisation at the end of June for the creation of dedicated LGBTIQA+ Human Rights Commissioner within the Australian Human Rights Commission. The role of the Commission is to provide advice on current and proposed laws as well as act as the regulator for positive duty laws. Currently, despite sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status being protected under Commonwealth anti-discrimination law we are not represented by our own commissioner like other minority groups. The Greens LGBTQIA+ spokesperson Senator Nick McKim has highlighted the need for the reform as filling a clear gap that has been called for by “community organisations and legal exports.” Sighting the raising anti LGBTQIA hate crime as well as political rhetoric as reason to fight back by “strengthening the institutions that defend people’s rights.” It means that currently the Australian Parliament are now both considering a bill to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to exclude the trans community and this one proposing a greater level of representation and protection. In some ways it has create a moment for the Labor to clearly highlight their support for the LGBTQIA+ community as they will be the deciding factor on both counts. It is a nervous wait as many of us are never comfortable assuming anyone’s support especially with the rising tide of anti-trans rhetoric.

A bizarre moment from Gina Rinehart

The Greens were not the only people to respond to Pauline Hanson’s Press Club speech as her largest support mining magnate and Australia’s richest person had plenty to say just a day later at the Townsville Bulletin Bush Summit. At the event Rinehart praised Hanson for giving “the country hope” and drawing on inspiration from Elon Musk labelled the One Nation leader a bulldozer that would “cut government tape and bureaucracy”. Encouraging the crowd to make engine noises Rinehart got Hanson on stage to accept a toy bulldozer, which looked bizarre and far less dramatic than a chainsaw. While this can be dismissed a rather ham-fisted attempt to emulate events in the USA some of her other comments were far more concerning and seems to contradict the supposedly nationalist values that One Nation are trying to promote. One of her more alarming suggestions was that Townsville should give Elon Musk an island for testing rockets, not only is this suggesting Australia should give land to a foreign entity, but it is also unsurprisingly self-serving since Rinehart is an investor in SpaceX. However, this wasn’t the only such proposal she made at the Bush Summit as called support Taiwanese chip manufactures and she also demonstrated her support for Israel suggesting that they should develop their advanced defence technology on Australian soil. It seems that all Gina is advocating for now is for Australia to become more greatly subservient to international interest that are in line with her views and will help continue to line her pockets. What should concern Australian voters here is the well documented influence and relationship she has with Hanson and thus how far Rinehart’s views will guide One Nation Policy.