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Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has pledged to rewrite the Sex Discrimination Act to enshrine a definition of biological sex, after the Federal Court doubled the damages paid to a transgender woman blocked from a “woman-only” app in a landmark discrimination case.
He described his vow to “protect single-sex spaces across Australian life” as a “common-sense” response to the highly charged debate over gender identity.
“We will define biological sex in the Act. Male or female. The sex you are born. And we will protect single-sex spaces across Australian life. This is not radical. It is common sense,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday.
“Let me be clear about what this is not. This is not about targeting transgender Australians. Every protection they currently have remains. We are not removing a single protection from anyone. But we are recognising something that should never have been in doubt: biological sex is real, it matters, and women and girls deserve spaces where it is respected.”
The Federal Court on Friday dismissed an appeal from the creators of social media app Giggle, upholding a finding from 2024 that they had breached Commonwealth discrimination laws in blocking Roxanne Tickle from an app they described as a “safe space” for women.
Taylor said rewriting sex discrimination laws to define biological sex as the one assigned at birth would be a “first-term priority” for any Coalition government, and vowed to “protect single-sex spaces across Australian life”.
His pledge came a day after One Nation’s Pauline Hanson said she would try to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to include biological definitions of women and men. On Sunday, Hanson said Liberals “have always taken the side of radical trans ideology” and “can’t be trusted to fix it now”.
Taylor’s decision to weigh in on the contentious debate over gender identity is a marked departure from the stance of former opposition leader Peter Dutton, who typically avoided buying into a controversy that had proved damaging for other Liberal leaders.
Asked on ABC’s Insiders in April 2023 where he stood on the issue, Dutton demurred, saying that he would not stand for any form of discrimination and “people should have respect and the debate runs two ways”, as feelings about the issue were very strong. Asked about any of his MPs going to anti-trans rallies, he added: “I don’t think MPs should be going to anti-anything rallies, to be honest.”
Taylor, fresh from a budget reply speech that canvassed “the biggest migrations cuts in Australian history”, challenged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to weigh in on transgender rights, asking: “Does he believe women and girls deserve protections based on biological sex?”
Nationals leader Matt Canavan also backs changes to sex discrimination laws, releasing a statement after the Federal Court handed down its finding that said: “The current law effectively prevents women and girls from having their own single sex spaces. The Nationals will fix this by supporting laws that define two biological genders, male and female, in the Sex Discrimination Act.”
The federal government said in a statement it was “aware of the decision made by the Federal Court”.
“The government believes all people are entitled to respect, dignity, and the opportunity to participate in society, free from discrimination. Four days after a reforming budget … the Liberals are choosing to demonise migrants and focus on this matter.”
Human rights expert Professor Paula Gerber, from Monash University, said the decision “affirms that Australia has strong legislation that protects trans people from discrimination on the basis of their gender identity” and Australia was not “at risk of following the path the UK has gone down”.
Albanese has been asked several times for the definition of a woman, and has replied “an adult female”.
Taylor on Sunday shrugged off the defection of two high-profile Liberal women to One Nation, saying it was “their choice” after News Limited revealed former Liberal senator Hollie Hughes and former party vice-president Teena McQueen have already joined Hanson’s party.
Hughes in 2024 accused Taylor, then shadow treasurer, of incompetence and treachery after she was pushed off the Senate ticket, and in November last year resigned from the Liberal party, saying women MPs were being used by “the boys who want a challenge but don’t have the gumption to go out and say anything themselves”.
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