Women Speak Tasmania met with Member for Lyons, Carlo Di Falco, on Wednesday 8 April to discuss urgent reforms to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998, aimed at restoring clear, sex-based protections for women and girls.
The meeting follows the organisation’s formal submission to the Attorney-General and growing public support through a statewide petition — “Fix Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Law: Protect Women and Girls by Adding ‘Sex’” — which has already gathered over 800 signatures across Tasmania. The petition calls for the Act to adopt a biological definition of sex — female and male.
The petition is available here:
Women Speak Tasmania President, Dr Elizabeth Caballero, said even the Australian Human Rights Commission now publicly recognises the distinction that Tasmania’s law currently lacks.
“The AHRC’s March 2026 Equal Identities report states clearly in its glossary: ‘Gender is distinct from biological sex. Sex is defined by chromosomes, hormones and reproductive anatomy.’ Yet Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act protects ‘gender’ and ‘gender identity’ but contains no standalone protection for biological sex,” Dr Caballero said.
“Sex is a material reality, not an identity. Laws designed to protect women and girls must be clear, enforceable, and based on biological sex.
These reforms will provide greater certainty for all Tasmanians while safeguarding privacy, dignity and fairness in single-sex spaces and services.”
We welcome Mr Di Falco’s support and his willingness to engage constructively on this issue, and to listen to the concerns of women across Tasmania.”
The proposed amendment seeks to ensure that single-sex spaces, services, and opportunities — such as toilets, changing rooms, sports, and crisis support — can continue to operate as intended, safeguarding privacy, dignity, and fairness.
Women Speak Tasmania argues that without clear definitions, service providers and institutions face legal uncertainty, increasing the risk of inconsistent application and potential harm to women and girls.
“This is about restoring clarity to the law so that protections function as Parliament originally intended,” Dr Caballero said.
The organisation emphasises that its proposal is consistent with longstanding legal principles recognising sex as a distinct and meaningful category in law — a position now echoed in the AHRC’s own public definitions.
The meeting with Mr Di Falco represents an important step in ongoing advocacy to ensure that Tasmania’s anti-discrimination framework remains fit for purpose and responsive to community concerns.
-ENDS-
Media Contact:
Dr Elizabeth Caballero
President, Women Speak Tasmania
[email protected]