Tag: 2025
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Opinion: Lessons from the Harwood Case: Why Evidence, Not Ideology, Must Guide Prison Policy
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,…
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Moratorium Needed in Gender Transitions
The state election campaign saw renewed debate about ‘gender-affirming care’ in children. Recent international developments highlight major concerns about the ‘gender-affirming’ approach. Bipartisan consensus in many countries shows major changes are needed in paediatric gender medicine. The 2024 UK Cass Review on gender transition interventions in young people found no clear evidence supporting ‘gender-affirming’ interventions…
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Invitation: Health Forum at Parliament House
Youth Gender Distress: Pathways to Holistic Care Thursday 27 November, 1–5 pm – Parliament Reception Room Australia’s leading clinicians in child and adolescent psychiatry, psychology, and mental health will address a full audience this Thursday at Parliament House. The forum will examine: Last week, a group of senior clinicians wrote to federal Health Minister Mark…
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How Tasmania’s Sex Self-ID Laws Were Passed: A Timeline of Events, Key Players, and Missing Voices
Tasmania’s “sex self-identification” reforms – introduced between 2018 and 2019 – fundamentally reshaped how sex and gender are recognised in law. They also triggered one of the most significant debates on women’s rights, safeguarding, and democratic process that our state has ever seen. Women Speak Tasmania has been involved in this debate from the beginning.…
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Why Did the ABC Ignore the FOI Story Involving Dr Anna Cody and UN Rapporteur Reem Alsalem? – Letter to ABC Ombudsman
Excellent complaint to the ABC from Anthony Johnsen over their failure to cover Anna Cody’s covert campaign to block reappointment of Reem Alsalem To the ABC Ombudsman, Recently, The Australian newspaper obtained documents under freedom of information laws in which Dr Anna Cody, Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, queried whether influence could be used to block…
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Lessons from the Harwood Case: How to Protect Vulnerable Prisoners Without Compromising Women’s Safety
Women Speak Tasmania (WST) does not support the housing of trans-identifying males in female prisons. However, we recognise the vulnerability of individuals who identify as transgender and acknowledge the complex challenges they face in custody. We have reviewed in detail the findings of the Coroner’s inquiry into the death of Marjorie Harwood, and we understand…
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Trans Prisoner Debacle Exposes AG Double Standards on Sex and Gender
Recent reports in The Australian and The Mercury expose conflicting positions given by Attorney-General Guy Barnett. In response to a specific question from The Australian about whether he will update policy on trans prisoners, the Attorney-General said: “After recently being briefed on a request from a serious child sex offender to be placed in a…
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Barnett Rejects Trans Jail ‘Ban’
Tasmanian Attorney-General Guy Barnett has rejected claims the government had “banned” transgender inmates from serving time in women’s prisons, saying his recent decision to deny a convicted child abuser’s request to be housed with females was consistent with current policies. After Equality Tasmania expressed concern about the wider ramifications of Mr. Barnett’s ruling – which…