Tag: prison
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The Hidden Cost of Gender Ideology in Australian Prisons: Women’s Safety Sacrificed
Over the past months, a series of highly publicised cases across multiple Australian jurisdictions has raised grave concerns about prison placement policies that allow male prisoners to be housed in women’s correctional facilities on the basis of gender identity or legal sex change rather than biological sex. In several documented instances, these policies have coincided…
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No Men in Women’s Prison! – Letter to the Attorney General
Letter sent to Guy Barnett on 16 November 2025 Dear Mr Barnett, Many of us were heartened to read your announcement that in Tasmania, like the Northern Territory, men who claim to be “trans” would not be housed in women’s prisons. “At last, some sanity and decency!” we thought. No woman should be locked in…
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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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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…
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Women Speak Tasmania Congratulates Attorney-General for Protecting Female Prisoners
Women Speak Tasmania (WST) congratulates the Tasmanian Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Guy Barnett, for taking decisive action to protect vulnerable women in prison by ensuring that a male sex offender who identifies as female will serve his sentence in a male facility. This decision follows the recent sentencing of a Tasmanian father who identifies…
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Trans ban in Tasmanian jails after horrific rape of three-year-old
A father who raped his own three-year-old daughter has demanded to be placed in a women’s prison in Tasmania, prompting the state government to declare it has banned trans-identifying male prisoners from women’s prisons. The pedophile, described by Tasmanian prison sources as “the worst of the worst”, set up a camera to record himself engaging…
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Protecting Women in Prison: Tasmania Must Follow the Northern Territory’s Lead
Women Speak Tasmania welcomes the strong leadership shown by Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who has announced that born males will no longer be placed in women’s prisons. The NT is now the first jurisdiction in Australia to take decisive action to protect the safety and dignity of female inmates. Chief Minister Finocchiaro’s clear…
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Call for Clear Policy on Housing of Trans-Identifying Male Prisoners – Letter to Tasmania Premier
Letter sent to the Premier on 14 October 2025 Dear Premier Rockliff, Re: Protecting Women in Custody – Call for Clear Policy on Housing of Trans-Identifying Male Prisoners Women Speak Tasmania commends Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro for her decisive leadership in banning born males from being housed in women’s prisons. This policy places…