Women Speak Tasmania (WST) congratulates the Tasmanian Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Guy Barnett, for taking decisive action to protect vulnerable women in prison by ensuring that a male sex offender who identifies as female will serve his sentence in a male facility.
This decision follows the recent sentencing of a Tasmanian father who identifies as a woman and was convicted of sexually assaulting his three-year-old daughter, as reported by The Australian on 11 November.
WST Director Dr Elizabeth Caballero said: “Women in custody are among the most vulnerable in our society, and they have the same right to safety and dignity as any other citizen.”
Dr Caballero also noted that WST has repeatedly warned the Government since 2018 about the dangers of sex self-identification laws and their impact on women’s safety. Dr Caballero said:
“This is a result of the poor assessment during the development of sex self-ID laws, and the rejection of any risk assessment or acknowledgement of evidence of adverse impacts in other jurisdictions by the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute,” she said.
WST further commends Attorney-General Barnett for his previous written assurance regarding sex-based data collection in sexual assault cases. In his correspondence to WST, the Attorney-General confirmed:
“It is the sex of accused people and complainants that is recorded, not the gender.”
WST welcomes these developments as an encouraging step towards restoring fairness, integrity, and the safeguarding of women in Tasmania’s justice system.
For Further Information contact Dr Elizabeth Caballero: [email protected]
-ENDS-