Women Speak Tasmania

Category: Articles

  • Opinion: Women Are Not “Anti-Trans” for Defending Sex-Based Rights

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    This week Women Speak Tasmania found itself discussed in Tasmania Parliament and labelled in media coverage as part of an “anti-transgender” campaign. The reason? We sent an email to Tasmanian parliamentarians inviting them to support the Women’s Pledge Australia and consider reforms to strengthen women’s sex-based protections under Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act. Women Speak Tasmania is…

  • Opinion: Women’s Concerns About Public Facilities Are Not ‘Misinformation’

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    Recent discussion about all-gender toilets in Tasmania has been dismissed in some quarters as “mischievous misinformation.” But many women raising concerns about privacy, dignity and public design are not spreading misinformation at all. They are asking reasonable questions about how major public facilities are being planned, and whether women’s needs are still being properly considered.…

  • Opinion: Parents Deserve Balanced Reporting on Gender-Distressed Youth

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    A recent article in The Examiner (11 April 2026), titled “Where can I find help? New initiative to connect fathers of trans kids”, highlights a new initiative supporting fathers of transgender-identifying children. It raises an important issue — but also an important concern. Where are the other voices? The piece presents a single, affirming perspective:…

  • Opinion: Culture of Fear, Surveillance and Social Breakdown

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    The most significant impacts of sex self-ID laws have become increasingly apparent with the breakdown in trust within families and of social cohesion in our communities. This corresponds to an increase in coercion for conformity to ‘group think’ and surveillance for ‘right think’ within our society at large on multiple issues. While many issues today…

  • Opinion: Lessons from the Harwood Case: Why Evidence, Not Ideology, Must Guide Prison Policy

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    The Attorney-General Guy Barnett’s recent contradictory statements in The Mercury and The Australian regarding trans inmate policy highlight the need for a broader public debate about women’s rights and the legal distinction between sex and gender. While Guy Barnett recently decided that a transgender serious child sex offender would be placed in the men’s prison,…

  • Opinion: Who is doing the fear-mongering?

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    Rodney Croome’s predictions about the Coalition rolling out a trans fear campaign and a looming culture war in the lead up to the coming federal election (Canberra Times 10 Jan 2025), tell us that many in the LGBTQA+ community are nervous about the implications of the US election on voter sentiment in Australia. While Rodney…

  • Opinion: National Guidelines Needed Before Law Reforms on Conversion Practices Bill

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    It is timely, given the election media frenzy over statements made by Warringah candidate Kath Deves on gender medicine for minors, that the Tasmanian Law Reform Institue has released its long awaited final report on proposed legislative reforms on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity conversion practices. It is reasssuring to note that the Tasmanian Law…

  • Opinion: Do Women Still Exist in Australia?

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    The Tickle vs Giggle case, finally concluded in the Federal Court of Australia on 23 August 2024, has raised profound questions about the meaning of womanhood in contemporary law. Justice Robert Bromwich ruled that Sall Grover, owner of the women-only app Giggle for Girls, had indirectly discriminated against trans-woman Roxanne Tickle. This case marked the…

  • Opinion: Rodney Croome: Will promoting hate achieve a win-win?

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    This opinion piece was written by Isla MacGregor in response to Rodney Croome’s article. It was rejected by the new editor of The Tasmanian Times I read Rodney Croome’s article ‘Turf War: What’s really Behind Recent Attacks on Trans Tasmanians‘ with considerable interest, most notably for the conspiratorial tone of his article and the lack…

  • Opinion: Let Kids be Safe from Harmful Treatments

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    Anthony Haneveer’s editorial ‘Let kids be kept safe from ignorance’ (Examiner 14 June 2023) is a continuum of his attack on anyone who does not conform to the narrative being promoted by a small section of the queer community in Tasmania. His attack on LGB Tasmania exposes his very personal interest in this issue. Far…