On Tuesday, debate began on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment (Sex or Gender Changes) Bill 2024 in Western Australia’s Legislative Council.
The Bill will allow anyone to change their legal sex or ‘gender’ on their birth certificate, enabling men to self-identify as women and access female-only spaces, services and sports, jeopardising the rights and safety of women and girls.
The Bill was introduced by WA Labor Government Attorney General John Quigley on 17 April 2024 with the public support of ex footballer Dani (Dean) Laidley. Laidley is a man who identifies as a woman and who pleaded guilty to stalking his ex-girlfriend and breaching a family violence order. It is incredible that the WA Government saw fit to use a man who terrorised a woman, to promote a law that is open to being exploited by predatory men, during a time where there is national outrage about violence against women in this country.
Women’s Forum Australia wrote to all Members of the WA Parliament highlighting our concerns with the Bill, which was rammed through the WA Legislative Assembly on 9 May 2024, just three weeks after it was introduced.
In addition to our concerns about the risks to women and girls, we noted in our correspondence with MPs that the Bill erodes safeguards for children by facilitating a pathway for children of any age to bypass their parents and change their legal sex. This undermines parental rights, and allows children to concretise a transgender identity, encouraging them further down a pathway of ‘transitioning’ towards harmful and irreversible medical interventions. Just four weeks after Queensland's sex self-ID law came into force, 11 children applied to change their legal sex.
We further explained that the Bill puts at risk the rights and freedoms of all Western Australians who choose to adhere to biological reality, and refuse to acknowledge a person’s self-identified sex whether in language or practice.
In June 2024, we were invited to share our concerns in a joint submission with Liberal MP Nick Goiran to the Standing Committee on Environment and Public Affairs following a parliamentary petition he had sponsored to 'Protect the Rights of Biological Females', which was signed by 8828 Western Australians. We requested that the Bill be referred to a public inquiry to ensure the sex-based rights of women and girls are protected (read full submission in a new window).
A couple of months after our correspondence to the WA Parliament, we received a response to our concerns from Attorney General Quigley, which demonstrates a troubling lack of understanding with regard to the dire implications of this law (read letter in a new window).
Perhaps the most concerning part of the response, was the wholesale dismissal of our concerns regarding the risk of sex self-identification (sex self-ID) laws to safety, dignity, privacy and fairness for women and girls, and the fact that the Attorney General seems to have unquestioningly accepted the opinion of the 'United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity' over that of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls when it comes to the risks of such laws being abused.
We explained this in our response to the Attorney General (read response in a new window), and also addressed his misconceived assertions that there had been extensive consultation, that the Bill doesn’t actually introduce sex self-ID, and that there are somehow adequate protections for kids who want to change their legal sex.
One particularly disturbing aspect of the Bill is the explicit removal of section 44 of the Prisons Act 1981 which mandates the separation of male and female prisoners, and the amendment of section 49(4) of that Act to allow a female or a child under 10-years-old to be searched by a prison officer “identifying as female”. It is difficult to understand why the WA Labor Government is intent on housing male offenders with vulnerable women, and allowing women and children to be searched by men (who identify as women), particularly in light of international human rights rules to the contrary.
It is important that those who feel disconnected from their biological sex are treated with care and respect, but this cannot be achieved by undermining the rights and welfare of other members of the community, especially hard-won rights and protections for women.
If you haven’t already, we encourage you to contact WA Legislative Council members - particularly Premier Roger Cook, WA Attorney General John Quigley, WA Minister for Women Sue Ellery and WA Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Sabine Winton - asking them to reject this regressive and harmful law.
Debate begins again tonight at 4pm AWST. Watch live here.
Women’s Forum Australia is an independent think tank that undertakes research, education and public policy advocacy on issues affecting women and girls, with a particular focus on addressing behaviours and practices that are harmful and abusive to them. We are a non-partisan, non-religious, tax-deductible charity. We do not receive any government funding and rely solely on donations to make an impact. Support our work today.
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