Category: Resources
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Analysis of the Sex Industry Offences Act 2005 (Tasmania)
Overview The Sex Industry Offences Act 2005 (Tas) is the primary legislation regulating the sex industry in Tasmania. It commenced on a day to be proclaimed and remains in force (as at July 2026). The long title states that the Act imposes restrictions on the operation of sexual services businesses in order to protect children…
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Detailed Response to the TLRI Report on Legal Recognition of Sex and Gender 2020
In June 2020 the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute released its Final Report No. 31 on Legal Recognition of Sex and Gender. The report reviewed the 2019 changes to birth certificate laws that introduced self-identification of gender and concluded that it could identify no significant negative impacts from those changes. Women Speak Tasmania did not agree.…
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Analysis of the Tasmanian Local Government Act (1993): How Equal Treatment of All Residents is the Legal Foundation of Good Local Governance
Women Speak Tasmania believes that genuine community wellbeing depends on local councils serving all residents fairly and impartially. This detailed analysis of the Local Government Act 1993 — the principal legislation governing Tasmania’s 29 councils — shows that the Act establishes equal treatment and service to the whole community as the foundation of good local…
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Finland’s Major Studies Challenge Claims That Gender-Affirming Care Improves Mental Health
Two important studies from Finland have just given us the clearest picture yet of what really happens to young people who feel distressed about their gender. The researchers looked at every single teenager and young adult in the whole country who went to a special gender clinic between 1996 and 2019. That’s 2,083 young people…
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Analysis of The Australia Human Rights Commission’s Equal Identities Report
Women Speak Tasmania has carefully reviewed the Australian Human Rights Commission’s March 2026 report, Equal Identities – A human rights review of the experiences of trans and gender diverse people in Australia. While the report claims to advance human rights, its 19 recommendations would seriously undermine the sex-based rights of women and girls in Australia…
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Analysis of The Yogyakarta Principles and Why They Conflict with Women’s Rights Under International Law
What are the Yogyakarta Principles? The Yogyakarta Principles (often called “YP”) are a set of 38 principles plus 111 extra state obligations created in 2006 and updated in 2017. They claim to show how existing international human rights law should apply to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. They are not a…
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What Finland Learned About Youth Gender Medicine: Evidence, Concerns, and the Shift to a Mental Health Model
What AusPATH Doesn’t Want You to Know: Finland’s Evidence-Based Exit from Routine Gender-Affirming Care for Youth During her keynote address at the inaugural Coalition Advancing Scientific Care (CASC) Gender Healthcare Summit in Adelaide (October 18–19, 2025), Professor Riittakerttu Kaltiala presented a detailed account of Finland’s real-world experience with adolescent gender dysphoria services. As one of…
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Analysis and Child-Rights Implications of The Queensland Hormone Treatment Review
Background and Scope of the Review The Queensland Government commissioned an independent review into the use of puberty blockers (Stage 1) and cross-sex hormones (Stage 2) for children and adolescents within the Queensland public health system. The scope of the review extended beyond narrow clinical questions. It examined: The review was therefore not an ideological…
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Reforming the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 to Restore Sex-Based Protections for Women and Girls
Submission to the Tasmania Attorney General Guy Barnett on 15 December 2025 1. Introduction Women Speak Tasmania (WST) welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission regarding urgent reforms to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tasmania) (“the Act”). WST is a community organisation committed to safeguarding the rights, safety, and dignity of women and girls in Tasmania. Our…
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Analysis of the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act 1998
1. Overview of the Act The Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (ADA) prohibits discrimination on a range of attributes, including: Critical fact:The Act does not include “sex” (female/male) as a protected attribute. This omission is unusual compared with Australian, international, and UN women’s rights law, all of which rely on sex, not gender identity, as the…