In the Mercury article by Duncan Abey from November 13 2025, Tasmanian Attorney-General Guy Barnett rejected claims that the Tasmanian Government had introduced a ban on transgender prisoners being housed in women’s prisons. He said his decision to refuse a convicted child sex offender’s request to be placed in a women’s correctional facility was consistent with existing Tasmania Prison Service policies and followed advice that the placement presented an unacceptable safety risk.
The Mercury reported that current standing orders allow transgender, transsexual and intersex prisoners to be housed according to their gender of identification, provided the safety, security or good order of the prison is not compromised. Equality Tasmania spokesperson Rodney Croome disputed concerns about the decision’s broader implications and said there had been no reported incidents since 2009 of transgender women prisoners harming female prisoners.
Source: Hobart Mercury – Printed Edition
