A leading feminist has made official complaints of bullying and sex discrimination against Tasmania’s female Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Robin Banks, who dismisses the claims.
Tessa Anne, an activist with the radical feminist Women’s Liberation Front (WOLF), has lodged complaints with the state’s Attorney-General and Integrity Commission, alleging Ms Banks “bullied, belittled” and discriminated against her.
Ms Banks yesterday rejected the allegations, which relate to her conduct during a 2 1⁄2- hour meeting between the two women, as well as one of Ms Banks’s staff members, on June 29. The meeting was held to discuss WOLF’s concerns about Ms Banks’s proposal – being considered by the Tasmanian government to allow men who identify as women, but who have not had a sex change, to be legally registered as female.
Ms Anne and WOLF believe the legislative change, similar to a proposal in Victoria, would undermine protections for women and girls and could see men gaining access to domestic violence and rape shelters. The complaint by Ms Anne alleges “aggressive” and “insulting” conduct by Ms Banks, and in some cases by her staff member, Leica Wagner, and that this amounted to bullying and discrimination against her on the basis of her sex.
Ms Anne’s complaint says Ms Banks denied that violence against women was discrimination. “What transpired at this meeting shocked me and left me feeling bullied, harassed and disrespected,” Ms Anne alleges in the complaint. “Robin Banks conducted herself in a hostile, aggressive and combative manner I felt threatened.
“As well as this substantive refusal to engage honestly with our concerns, I was also subjected to name-calling and derision … I believe the conduct of Banks and Wagner on this occasion amounts to discrimination against me because I am female, and I would like to pursue a formal complaint of discrimination.”
Ms Banks said she did not believe her conduct or that of Ms Wagner constituted bullying, harassment or discrimination. “I look forward to the opportunity to talk to the Attorney–General and the Integrity Commission if they consider that’s necessary,” she said.
She did not believe Ms Anne had any grounds for her claims. “No, I don’t,” Ms Banks said. “It was a discussion about an issue on which we disagreed. I guess it was just the way in which the disagreement was understood.”
Ms Banks made headlines earlier this year after deciding that Catholic bishops had a case to answer in relation to a discrimination complaint about a pamphlet outlining the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
Ms Anne’s complaint says during their discussion Ms Banks had mocked her group’s submission on the transgender legal change as being similar to that made by the Australian Christian Lobby.
“I could not believe what I was hearing – the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner ridiculing a religious organisation and mocking the WOLF submission by likening it to that of an organisation for which she clearly had nothing but contempt,” the complaint says.
Source: The Australian