Women Speak Tasmania has written to Attorney-General Guy Barnett expressing concern over the Tasmanian Department of Justice’s development of a Trans and Gender Diverse Prisoner Policy in consultation with its LGBTIQA+ Reference Group, but with no women’s organisations included as stakeholders.
The group thanked the Attorney-General for his earlier correspondence of 12 March 2025, confirming that rape crime and victim data in Tasmania are recorded according to sex, not gender.
“Policies that directly affect the safety and rights of women in custody cannot be developed without the input of women’s groups,” said Dr Elizabeth Caballero, Director of Women Speak Tasmania. “This omission raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability.”
The letter to the Attorney-General cites several recent national cases that have raised outrage among women’s advocates:
- A male-born offender who sexually abused his five-year-old daughter and now identifies as a woman, placed in a female prison.
- A trans-identifying male who raped a woman in her cell at a women’s prison.
- A trans-identifying male violent offender in New South Wales who has applied to be transferred to a women’s facility.
Women Speak Tasmania also criticised comments by Rodney Croome regarding the Adelaide prison rape case, describing them as dismissive of women’s safety.
“You don’t seem to have an answer to cases like this except segregation. For me segregation is never an answer. It will probably not be funded and it is unprincipled.” — Rodney Croome
Dr Caballero said, “Mr Croome has publicly called for special protections for gay inmates in men’s prisons but has shown no corresponding concern for the safety of women in women’s prisons. This double standard highlights the urgent need for balanced consultation.”
Women Speak Tasmania argues that the Trans and Gender Diverse Prisoner Policy must include women’s safety advocates and organisations focused on sex-based rights to ensure consistency with Tasmania’s crime data policies and to address the growing community concern and public outrage about this issue.
-ENDS-
For Further Information contact Dr Elizabeth Caballero: [email protected]