Yesterday in the Tasmanian House of Assembly, two MPs used parliamentary privilege to directly attack Women Speak Tasmania by name.
Kristie Johnston MP (Independent, Clark)
Independent MP Kristie Johnston again labelled Women Speak Tasmania an “anti-trans group” that promotes “division and hate”. She claimed we encourage threats of violence, and suggested that no member of parliament should associate with our Women’s Pledge.
This follows her similar comments on 19 May in Question Time, where she told the House:
“Anti-trans group Women Speak Tasmania want to weaken our Anti-Discrimination Act. They want to allow discrimination against trans and gender diverse people.”
“The group this month asked MPs to sign a pledge to ban trans women from single-sex spaces, services and sports.”
“This would be a radical change from decades of inclusive practice in Tasmania.”
She welcomed the Premier’s statement that there are “no plans to change the anti-discrimination laws” and framed our advocacy as an attack on Tasmania’s “proud inclusive culture”.
Ella Haddad MP (Labor, Clark)
Labor MP Ella Haddad then added her support, stating:
“I want to add my support to the words of my Clark colleague, member for Clark, Kristie Johnston, on what she said about the Anti-Discrimination Act and the campaign by Women Speak Tasmania not only to change our laws to discriminate against trans people, but to use their platform as a place for online hate…”
She went on to claim:
- “Trans women are women and trans rights are human rights.”
- Our advocacy “distils each of us down to our genitals” and is “offensive” and “entirely illogical.”
- Such campaigns mean “forcing bearded, muscular trans men into women’s bathrooms, shelters and change rooms.”
- Our work is causing “enormous damage” and making trans Tasmanians feel unsafe.
The Facts These MPs Chose to Ignore
Women Speak Tasmania is a women-led advocacy group campaigning for sex-based rights for women and girls. Our position is straightforward:
- Add biological sex (male/female) as a protected attribute in Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 — which currently protects “gender identity” but does not explicitly protect sex. This strengthens, rather than weakens, the law.
- Uphold single-sex spaces, services, and sports based on biological reality — for privacy, safety, dignity, and fair competition.
- Ensure public policy remains evidence-based, not ideological.
These are not radical or hateful demands. They are supported by international evidence including the UK’s Cass Review, sports science on male physiological advantage, women’s prison data, and the reality of male-pattern violence.
On the Deleted Comment
Ms Johnston highlighted a single comment on our Facebook page from a person named Michael Higgins (“She needs a bullet”). We deleted that comment the moment we became aware of it. This is our standard operating procedure. We do not tolerate threats of violence. We moderate our pages as diligently as possible under difficult circumstances.
What the both fail to acknowledge is the daily torrent of abuse our group and our supporters receive simply for speaking up for women’s rights. Here are just a few recent examples (the tip of the iceberg):
- “STFU you bunch of fascist TERFs!”
- “The blood of trans kids is directly on your hands.”
- “Go f@ck yourself”
- Axe emojis with “F3ck OFF” and violent symbols.
- “Shut the fuck up I’m so sick of y’all acting like you care about women and kids y’all just using that as an excuse to justify your bigotry and hate.”
This abuse comes from trans activists and their allies — often in direct response to public statements by politicians like Ms Johnston and Ms Haddad who label us “hateful”, “anti-trans”, and “bigoted”. Yet we do not respond in kind. We do not call them names. We do not wish them harm. We simply point out where their statements are factually wrong or misleading.
Parliamentary Privilege and Public Debate
Using parliamentary privilege to name and attack a community-based women’s group sets a concerning precedent. Disagreeing with MPs on matters of women’s rights and legal definitions is not hate speech — it is legitimate democratic advocacy.
Women Speak Tasmania has every right to lobby parliamentarians, present petitions, and invite cross-party support for the Women’s Pledge. Hundreds of women (and men) across Tasmania support clearer protections for their sex-based rights.
Tasmanian women and girls deserve:
- Safe single-sex changing rooms, shelters, prisons, and sports.
- Accurate data collection based on biological sex.
- Policies grounded in evidence, not compelled speech or ideological capture.
We will continue this work — calmly, factually, and persistently. As the saying goes: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
We invite all Tasmanians — including members of parliament — to engage respectfully with the evidence. Women’s rights are not a zero-sum game. Protecting biological sex-based spaces does not remove anyone’s human rights; it simply recognises material reality and safeguards the most vulnerable.