Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to reflect on the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which finished on Sunday. Like Senator Chandler, I witnessed performances which, as Senator Chandler put it, captured 'the essence of the Olympic spirit'. It's just a shame that Senator Chandler demonstrated the exact opposite in her contribution—to use the word loosely—last week, when she misgendered a transwoman athlete, Laurel Hubbard, and denigrated both her and her qualification to represent her country at an Olympic Games.

Principle 4 of the Olympic Charter states:

The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

Further, principle 6 states:

The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Olympic Charter shall be secured without discrimination of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

The Australian Human Rights Commission and Sport Australia hold the same vision for sport. In their Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport, they state:

Participation in sport is a human right. We are all born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Senator Chandler would have you believe people affirm their gender identity for the specific purpose of excellence at a sport and to dominate women's sport. Transwomen affirm their gender identity to live as their true selves. They should not lose their human right to participate in any social and cultural practice, such as sport. This so-called trans dominance of women's sport is a myth which people like Senator Chandler use to cause fear, distrust and division in our society.

We saw at the Tokyo Olympics a number of firsts. Senator Chandler chose to focus her discrimination on one athlete, but there were a number of trans and non-binary athletes competing at the Tokyo Olympics, including Alana Smith and Quinn, a member of the Canadian women's football team. In fact, Quinn became the first trans or non-binary athlete to win a medal at an Olympic games, when the Canadian women's football team beat Sweden to claim the gold medal. Their accomplishments should be celebrated, not denigrated, as Senator Chandler did last week in this place.

As Senator Chandler has said, the IOC has noted that there is no evidence of an unfair advantage for transwomen over their cisgender counterparts. This is true; there is no evidence of this. There are no studies comparing the performance of transwomen athletes to those of cisgender athletes. As participation in sport is a human right, we should always start from a position of inclusion. The IOC have developed protocols and policies regarding transgender athletes in sport. It is these standards which athletes such as Laurel Hubbard met in order to qualify for these games. She was humble and thankful and showed real courage at her press conference after the competition at the games. Laurel Hubbard exemplifies the Olympic spirit and should be celebrated as an Olympian, without the question mark Senator Chandler and her ilk would seek to put on this status.

This should not have to be continually said, but, for Senator Chandler's benefit, I will state it for the record: transmen are men, transwomen are women and non-binary people are non-binary. Their gender identities are valid, and they should not have to tolerate blatant discrimination, unchallenged, in this place from the likes of Senator Chandler.