By Stephanie Bastiaan

New South Wales model of decriminalisation and deregulation of prostitution has failed to protect workers in the sex industry while empowering profiteers and criminals, so why is Victoria going down the same path?  

Recently, the Commonwealth Department of Health released a new guide for Covid-19 vaccinations, erasing all references to “pregnant women” and instead referring to “people who are pregnant”. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ new guidelines state that “a person’s sex can change over the course of their lifetime”. And in NSW, it turns out that a male who identifies as female can be named Woman of the Year.

Warning: this blog contains content that may be particularly distressing to survivors of sexual assault.

Over the past couple of months, we have been working hard to raise awareness about the injustice done to the Feminist Legal Clinic (FLC), a charity providing legal assistance to disadvantaged women. The clinic had its tenancy grant revoked for posting links to articles about trans issues on its website; views which the City of Sydney Council considered to be discriminatory.

The NSW Government is establishing a special Permanency Taskforce to fast track the adoption process and provide permanent and loving homes to vulnerable children in out-of-home care. On average, it can take up to five years for such children to find a home. This is far too long, especially given that there are more than 16,000 vulnerable children in NSW needing a permanent home.

As a result of son-preference cultures where males are prized over females, the practice of abortion disproportionately impacts little girls, who are subject to violence and discrimination before they are even born.