Recent reports in The Australian and The Mercury expose conflicting positions given by Attorney-General Guy Barnett.
In response to a specific question from The Australian about whether he will update policy on trans prisoners, the Attorney-General said:
“After recently being briefed on a request from a serious child sex offender to be placed in a women’s correctional facility, I have made clear to the Department that this request is not to be accommodated, and that the presence of any male prisoner in a women’s prison would present unacceptable safety risks to female prisoners.”
This statement clearly indicates that he has directed the Department that male prisoners will not be held in women’s prisons.
AG Guy Barnett, in response to our letter concerning rape crime data earlier this year, stated that:
“It is the sex of accused people and complainants that is recorded, not the gender.”
Is the Attorney-General prepared to acknowledge this contradiction — that recognising sex in crime data but gender in prison inmate policy represents a blatant double standard, and may even breach the Anti-Discrimination Act?
This situation once again exposes how the rights of trans-identifying males are being prioritised over the dignity, rights, and safety of women. There is nothing in the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act that establishes a hierarchy of rights. Yet, as with the federal Sex Discrimination Act, we continue to see captured bureaucracies implementing policies and procedures that operate to the detriment of women.
Women have not been included in stakeholder consultations on the issue of the rights of vulnerable female prisoners being forced to share spaces with trans-identified males.
WST will be discussing this and other issues concerning the repeal of sex self-ID laws when we meet with the Attorney-General in December.
For Further Information contact Dr Elizabeth Caballero: [email protected]
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