Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The extremist idea that males should be able to identify into what were previously single-sex women's sports or spaces has never been able to stand up on its own merits. The idea that a male sex offender should be able to identify into a women's prison, or a male athlete do so into a women's sport, is so obviously absurd that the only way it has gained traction is by demonising and punishing people for pointing out that absurdity.

Freedom of speech and expression are cornerstones of a democratic society. They are fundamental to our ability to argue for good ideas and to challenge dangerous ideas. Yet, in order to implement policies which Australians have never voted for, governments and bureaucrats have deliberately stifled the free expression of those advocating for single-sex sports and services for women.

We've seen it in state based antidiscrimination commissions, under which I, and many others, have been subject to spurious attempts to stop us pointing out that males shouldn't be in women's sports or spaces. We've seen it in the Federal Court, where the Sex Discrimination Commissioner has argued that sex isn't a biological concept—an argument which conflicts not only with reality but also with the sex based rights of every Australian woman. Last week, the taxpayer funded Australian Human Rights Commission launched an extraordinary new phase in its activism, opening a consultation on what it calls 'trans and gender diverse human rights', but banning 12 million Australian women and girls from participating.

Gender ideology is a contested concept which denies the reality of sex, attempts to force women and girls to give up single-sex spaces, sports and facilities, and labels us as bigots if we don't comply. The AHRC knows full well that women in this country and around the world advocating for sex based rights have been subjected to torrents of vile abuse and threats from activists. Yet, under this consultation they're running, some of those abusive activists will be treated as experts, while the women they try to intimidate are blocked from participating. Rather than adopting a neutral approach to consultation on this issue, the AHRC has designed a consultation which prevents Australian women from making a submission, while giving an unchallenged platform to what they call 'subject matter experts'—the ones whose expertise leads them to conclude that it is kind and inclusive to put a male rapist into a women's prison.

What are the 'trans and gender diverse human rights' that the AHRC refers to? Well, they won't even say. They can't explain why it is a human right for a male to enter a women's space or sport or service. Not only do they seem to think women shouldn't get a say in whether we consent to this; now they're suggesting we aren't even qualified to comment.

Once again, the elite one per cent is saying that if you're a CEO or the head of an activist group then your view is noteworthy, but if you're an average Australian woman then your view is worth nothing. If you're a woman in Australia who believes that a convicted male sex offender shouldn't be able to identify into a women's prison, or if you're one of the women in prison who would be put at risk, the AHRC thinks you're not qualified to give your opinion. But if you're an activist who has campaigned for that male sex offender to be able to choose to be placed into a women's prison—well, the AHRC will consider you an expert. If you're a mother who wants your daughter to be able to participate in single-sex sport so she can compete fairly and safely, the AHRC doesn't want to hear from you. But if you're a male who campaigns for males to be allowed to identify into women sport, the AHRC wants to hear your views on how women who disagree with you have been radicalised. When they say, 'We are unable to accept submissions from nonspecialists in this area,' as the AHRC does, the 'nonspecialists' they are referring to are the 12 million Australian women who have to live with the erasure of women's sex based rights and who are smeared as bigots if we object.

Once again, under the Albanese government, any views or facts which challenge their narrative are labelled 'misinformation' or 'disinformation'. Any challenge to gender ideology is childishly labelled as 'vilification' or 'extremism'.

The AHRC should reflect on the reality that you cannot get a more extremist position than wanting women and girls named, shamed and punished simply for advocating for their own sex based rights. Yet this is exactly the type of witch-hunt the AHRC is setting up, while blocking millions of Australian women from being able to have our say.

Senate adjourned at 19:39