Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to speak specifically to this bill's inclusion of protection from discrimination on the basis of gender identity in the Fair Work Act. I'd like to commend the government for taking these critical steps to protect groups who experience severe levels of workplace discrimination, and I want to thank the member for Clark for moving this amendment to ensure that best-practice language for the intersex community is used in this bill, as the Greens have recommended for years.

Studies have shown that only 22 per cent of gender diverse people feel comfortable to be open about their gender identity with their colleagues. Just over 43 per cent reported being deliberately misgendered within the workplace in the last year, and this bill would go some of the way to ensuring gender diverse people feel safer in the workplace, allowing them to feel more comfortable and secure in themselves.

Protection on the basis of gender identity is a welcomed commitment from the government. Although I welcome their intention in taking steps to protect the intersex community, protection on the basis of intersex status does not go far enough. For intersex people to be fully protected from discrimination, we must protect them against discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. This is best-practice language and it protects intersex people at all stages of development and widens the scope of protection for intersex people. It's language that Intersex Human Rights Australia has called on the government to implement. Further, it's language recommend by the Queensland Human Rights Commission and the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia to best protect intersex people.

All members of the LGBTQIA+ community deserve to feel safe and protected in their workplaces, including gender diverse and intersex people. I call on the government to update all antidiscrimination legislation to adequately protect intersex people.

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