Women Speak Tasmania

Tag: 2024

  • Reviewing Tasmania’s Prostitution Framework: Strengths, Weaknesses & How to Improve

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    Tasmania’s legal framework around prostitution offers a mix of protections, restrictions, and blind spots. Drawing on the recent UN Special Rapporteur report (A/HRC/56/48) on prostitution and violence against women and girls, here’s a breakdown of where Tasmania stands well — where it falls short — and how the UN’s recommendations could guide improvements. Pros —…

  • Analysis of the UN Report by Reem Alsalem titled Prostitution and Violence against Women and Girls (A/HRC/56/48)

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    The Special Rapporteur’s report treats prostitution not as ordinary labour but as a system of gendered violence and exploitation driven by male demand, poverty and structural discrimination. It recommends the abolition/Nordic approach — criminalizing buyers and profiteers while decriminalizing and supporting victims — combined with strong measures against digital facilitation and AI-enabled pornography. How the…

  • The Cass Review significance

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    Rodney Croome has failed to grasp the significance of the Cass Review ratings of gender clinics in Australia outlined in Ben Seeder’s important investigative article (Examiner 16 June 2024). Dr. Cass alarming ratings on the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne have direct implications for service delivery at the Tasmanian Gender Service. In 2019 the National Association…

  • When Women’s Voices Are Silenced in the Name of “Inclusion”

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    On 16 June 2024, ABC Radio Hobart’s Breakfast with Ryk Goddard featured an interview with Equality Tasmania’s Rodney Croome about Launceston City Council’s decision to develop an LGBTQAI+ inclusion plan. The conversation quickly turned to a deeper and more troubling issue: whether women in Tasmania are being denied the right to speak publicly when their…

  • Why an Inquiry into Tasmania Gender Service Is Essential

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    Women Speak Tasmania recently wrote to Health Minister Guy Barnett, drawing attention to serious concerns about the Tasmanian Gender Service (TGS), its practices, and the lack of transparency—and advocating for an urgent inquiry. Here’s a breakdown of our key points and the minister’s response, which signals a significant step forward. Key Concerns Raised by WST…

  • Tasmanian minister ‘prefers’ national inquiry into child gender clinics

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    A senior state cabinet member has written to the federal government asking for it to consider staging a national review into public medical services for children experiencing gender dysphoria. Health Minister Guy Barnett confirmed he wrote to his federal counterpart, Mark Butler, this week, requesting that he consider a review of gender clinics, following the…

  • Calls for Commonwealth Inquiry into Gender Clinics

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    In response to WST correspondence with Health Minister Guy Barnett, we are pleased that the Tasmanian Liberal Government is the first Government in Australia to back a Commonwealth inquiry into gender clinics and their guidelines in response to release of England’s groundbreaking Cass Review. Spokesperson Dr Elizabeth Caballero Pastor said, ‘While our initial request to…

  • Inquiring mind

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    Tasmania’s Liberal government has become the first Australian administration to recommend a national review of public gender services for minors. The island state’s Health Minister, Guy Barnett, who is also Attorney-General, said he had written to his federal counterpart—Australia’s Labor Party Health Minister, Mark Butler—to ask him to consider the idea. On Thursday, Mr Barnett…

  • Banned Drug Leuprorelin Acetate still being Prescribed in Tasmania.

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    The drug leuprorelin acetate, now banned in the UK from use as a puberty blocker, is still being prescribed by the Tasmanian Gender Service (TGS). Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Italy have also implemented bans on the use of puberty blockers for under 18’s because of risks to patient safety. The bans have been implemented following…

  • Tasmania’s Conversion Practices Bill 2024: A Threat to Evidence-Based Care for Children

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    The Tasmanian Government is planning to introduced the Justice Miscellaneous (Conversion Practices) Bill 2024, framing it as a measure to end harmful “conversion therapy.” While no one disputes the need to prevent coercive practices aimed at erasing sexual orientation, this Bill goes much further. By extending its reach to gender identity, it risks creating a…