Email to Mark Butler MP, Federal Minister for Health 15 September 2026
Dear Minister,
I refer to a post you published on Facebook on 8 September 2026, in which you stated, ‘It’s Women’s Health Week ask your health questions below’.
It’s rare that the general public are invited to ask questions of their public representatives, and so there is an expectation, albeit it measured, that you will answer them. I would hope that you are genuine in your invitation, rather than posting for optics.
About a week down the track, as at 15 September 11:48am, your post had gathered 544 comments. Of those, approximately 79 (15%) asked a variety of questions that all centered around the rights of women and girls, and gender identity. For example:
- What is a woman? (there were many of these)
- What’s your stance on men in women’s sports?
- When does a man qualify for women’s health services?
- etc…
Those 79 comments attracted around 940 likes.
Minister, this issue is often described, by members of your party, as being niche or fringe. For example, at a Trades Hall function in Melbourne, when questioned, Tanya Plibersek referred to it as a fringe issue affecting less than 1% of the population and, something that working class people don’t care about. This is clearly untrue.
The response to your invitation demonstrates that this is anything but a niche or fringe issue. Of course, you don’t hear these voices in the mainstream media, in particular left-wing and centrist media. I single out the ABC as being utterly derelict in its duty to report on this issue without bias, if they report on it at all. The right-wing media is doing the heavy lifting, which, unfortunately, tends to see supporters of women’s rights and critics of gender-affirming care as right-wing bigots. This is not a partisan issue. It is politically agnostic. I am of the left, yet am increasingly finding that One Nation and the LNP represent me better, if only on this issue. And, I am not alone.
Minister, what will you do with the data you have collected from your Facebook invitation? Will you report your findings back to your party? Will you use it to fight for safe, female-only spaces, sports and services? Will you use it to restore the rights of women and girls that have been erased as a direct consequence of the redefinition of ‘woman’ and the subsequent erasure of sex-class? (see Tickle vs Giggle)? Will you fix the Sex Discrimination Act? Will you get back to us?
Give me a party I can vote for again by fixing the SDA, because definitions matter.
Sincerely yours,
A. Johnsen
