Tag: Tasmania
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IOC Bans Males from Female Sport: Tasmania Must Follow Suit
Women Speak Tasmania has welcomed the International Olympic Committee’s new policy protecting the female category in elite sport and is calling on Tasmanian Sport Minister Nick Duigan to adopt similar science-based rules for community and grassroots sport in Tasmania. On 26 March 2026, the IOC announced that eligibility for the female category at Olympic Games…
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Request for Review the Inclusion of “I Am Jazz” in Tasmanian Schools – Letter to Jo Palmer
Letter sent to Jo Palmer and Josh Willie on the 19.03.26 This letter was sent by A. Johnsen to the Tasmanian Minister for Education and the Shadow Minister for Education, raising concerns about the inclusion of I Am Jazz on a Department of Education reading list for students aged 11–12, and requesting a review of…
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International Women’s Day 2026: Defending Women’s Sex-Based Rights in Tasmania
This International Women’s Day (8 March 2026), Women Speak Tasmania focused our advocacy on a clear and urgent goal: restoring the recognition of ‘sex’ in Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1998. Women’s equality in law has always depended on the clear recognition of sex as a protected attribute. Without it, sex-based protections become difficult to enforce in…
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On International Women’s Day, We Call for the Recognition of Sex in the Anti-Discrimination Act
On International Women’s Day, Women Speak Tasmania proudly celebrates women worldwide and here in Tasmania as a distinct sex class—adult human females—whose biological reality has shaped centuries of struggle for rights, safety, and equality. On this day we honour the suffragists who fought for women’s enfranchisement, recognising women as a political and legal class deserving…
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Who Decides the Books in Your Child’s Classroom? The Role of Working It Out
A recent Right to Information request (RTI 076–2025/26) has provided new insight into how the Tasmanian Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) selects and recommends books for use in schools under the Supporting Sexuality, Sex and Gender Diversity in Schools, which sits within the Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum. The RTI shows…
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Why Parents are Kept in the Dark About Tasmania School Programs
What we learnt from RTI Request 076–2025/26 Working It Out and Growing Up Program Parents have a right to know what their children are being taught at school—especially when lessons touch on sensitive topics such as sexuality, gender identity, and personal development. A recent Right to Information (RTI) request has raised serious questions about whether…
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Women Speak Tasmania’s Experience with Media Framing in Our Discrimination Case
At Women Speak Tasmania, we are committed to advocating for the sex-based rights, safety, and dignity of women and girls, while also emphasizing the importance of child safeguarding and parental involvement in critical matters affecting young people. Our work often intersects with complex and sensitive debates on sex and gender, and we believe these discussions…
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Formal Request for Correction and Right of Reply – Letter to Craig Herbert
Email sent to Craig Herbert, editor of The Hobart Mercury – 25 February 2026 Dear Craig, I am writing on behalf of Women Speak Tasmania regarding your article published on 2 February 2026, titled “Women Speak Tasmania claims discrimination over canned library forum.” We were concerned to see the article report on legal proceedings involving…
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Safety and Mental Health Concerns for Girls in the Miss Tasmania Pageant
Why Biological Males Competing Undermines Child Safeguarding and Female Empowerment In February 2026, Mini Miss Pageants announced Lucy Violet Faulkner — a trans-identified man from Geelong, Victoria — as a 2026 Miss Tasmania contestant. The original social media post was quickly removed after strong community backlash. The Tasmanian papers focused heavily on claims of “hatred”…
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Reviewing Amnesty International’s Position on Prostitution: A Survivor-Centred Perspective
Before the formation of Women Speak Tasmania, members were already active in campaigning against the decriminalisation of prostitution and advocating for the rights and safety of survivors. Isla MacGregor played a leading role in Tasmania, working alongside Simone Watson and the Nordic Model Australia Coalition (NorMAC) to promote the Nordic Model. Together, they lobbied policymakers,…