Human Rights Commissioners Probed on Definition of Woman: Inquiry

Liberal and One Nation senators have scrutinised human rights commissioners over their interpretation of discrimination law during recent parliamentary hearings.

The landmark Giggle v Tickle appeal judgment, handed down earlier in May by the Federal Court, has resulted in a surge of campaigning by conservative or right-leaning parties.

The judgment found that a female-only app “Giggle for Girls” was wrong to exclude transgender person Roxanne Tickle from accessing it under discrimination law.

The next day, Liberal Leader Angus Taylor announced a policy to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to allow for exclusion of trans women from gatherings.

“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,” he said.

Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash declared the “law is an ass” after a string of pointed questions to Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody during parliamentary hearings on the federal budget.

She began her questioning by asking Human Rights Commission President Hugh de Kretser, “What is a woman?”

“An adult human female, and that includes transgender women,” he responded.

“The court has said that the definition of sex was intended by this parliament to not be binary and not be immutable, so that someone under state and territory law, under identification law, can change their sex.”

Cash repeatedly asked whether “a man can put on a dress and declare themselves a woman,” but Cody suggested the Sex Discrimination Act would likely not recognise them as such.

Cody said the judgment made clear it “takes into account biology and physical characteristics, (and) someone’s social recognition and their presentation of themselves.”

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts also argued the Human Rights Commission was not a neutral party when it presented evidence to the Giggle v Tickle case.

The commission made a “amicus curiae” submission to the court on how to interpret the act, without siding with either party.

Several times, committee chair Labor Senator Jana Stewart intervened to bring down the temperature of the debate during a heated hour of questioning.

By Ben McKay in Hobart.