Women Speak Tasmania is calling on the City of Launceston to pause its proposed all-gender changeroom design at the Launceston Aquatic Centre after a deeply inadequate consultation process.
The proposal would remove existing male and female changerooms and replace them entirely with individual all-gender cubicles. Feedback was limited to hallway signs and a suggestion box inside the Centre, with the period closing on Friday 21 August. Many regular users only discovered the plans after the deadline, when photographs were shared online.
“This is a major public facility used by families, schools and people from right across Northern Tasmania,” said Dr Elizabeth Caballero, President of Women Speak Tasmania.
“Yet the City treated a significant change to intimate facilities as if it were a minor internal matter. That is not consultation — it is a failure of transparency.”
Dr Caballero said safety and privacy must come first.
“True inclusion means providing more choice, not removing single-sex options that women and girls rely on. Individual private cubicles can sit alongside female and male facilities. There is no justification for eliminating sex-separated spaces. The City must pause this design, properly consult the community, and publish any risk assessment on safety, privacy and safeguarding before proceeding further.”
ENDS
Media Contact:
Dr Elizabeth Caballero, retired GP,
President, Women Speak Tasmania