Jacinta Allan Declines to Step in on Decision to House Transgender Child Sex Offender in Female Prison

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to intervene with the decision to place a transgender inmate with sex offences in the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women’s prison.

The transgender inmate who identifies as a woman is in jail for sexually abusing her five-year-old daughter, and filming and sending it to an overseas pedophile.

Allan told reporters she and other members of parliament should not be telling Corrections Victoria where to place prisoners.

“I think it would be deeply inappropriate for any member of parliament, minister or premier of the day, to be reaching in to Corrections Victoria and directing the placement of any prisoner across the prison system,” she told reporters.

“So let’s be clear, there are strict and clear guidelines within which Corrections Victoria operates. And that includes the safety and wellbeing of all prisoners when it comes to the placement of individual prisoners.”

Allan expressed her trust in the government agency and pointed out the safety of staff was also an important consideration.

“That is the operational decisions Corrections Victoria make every single day, and also it is also not just to guide the safety and wellbeing of prisoners, it’s also to support the safety and wellbeing of staff,” she said.

“And I respect and support the work of Corrections Victoria to consider the placement of prisoners as appropriate across the prison system.

Opposition Leader on Sex Offenders Policy

Opposition leader Brad Battin said a broad policy preventing biological males with sex offences from serving their term in women’s prisons would solve the problem.

“The government can come out and create policy that says any person convicted of sexual offences who is a biological male should not be in a female prison. That’s a policy then,” he told Sky News Australia.

“That’s not directed at one individual. That’s directed at the others that have also been in the women’s prison who have had a history of sexual violence.”

Battin called on the government to take action and said he would if he wins the next election in November 2026.

“So if the government put that policy forward or put in legislation or instructed those who are running the prison system to do that, that would be a very simple fix.  And under a government I lead, we would do that,” he said.

It has been reported that there have been other instances in the past where biological males convicted of sexual offences resided in a female prison.

“We believe in freedom of choice. I believe you can identify however you like. That doesn’t faze or impact me. But when it does impact vulnerable people, particularly in the prison system, I think that needs to be taken into consideration,” Battin said.

Women’s Forum Australia has created a petition calling on the Victorian premier to remove men from women’s prisons in Victoria. It has garnered 16,720 signatures so far.

In a comment directed at Allan, CEO Rachael Wong said on X, “You can continue to deflect responsibility all you like, but we will continue to hold you and your government to account.”

The group’s head of advocacy Stephanie Bastiaan said male prisoners should never be in women’s prisons.

“There is no situation where it’s appropriate for male prisoners to be housed in female prisons for the same reasons that women deserve privacy, safety and dignity of single-sex spaces,” she said.

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson has also weighed in on the matter, describing the situation as “insanity.”

“There should be no biological men in women’s prisons. Yet in Victoria, a biological male pedophile who identifies as a woman is being housed in a women’s prison,” she said.

“Victorians deserve answers, but Premier Jacinta Allan is missing in action.”

Contrasting Situation in NSW

In New South Wales (NSW), the government rejected a bid for a biologically male inmate convicted of murder to transfer to a women’s prison earlier this year.

“The Commissioner of Corrective Services NSW has refused the application of an offender to transfer to a female correctional centre,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times in July.

At the time, Corrective Services NSW confirmed all transgender inmates were currently accommodated in facilities corresponding to their biological sex.