Government Services Minister Bill Shorten has defended his decision to order the removal of inclusive language from a government form saying he was trying to shut down a “culture war” over the issue.
Last week new mother and biological gender activist Sall Grover complained about a form that lists children on their parent’s Medicare card, objecting to the use of the phrase “birthing parent”.
The form was part of a trial being conducted at three hospitals across the country, which sought feedback from users on the use of the term. Following Grover’s complaint, which was published in the The Daily Telegraph and featured on the Today show, Shorten took to Twitter and ordered it’s removal.
Speaking to the NINE newspapers today Shorten said he took decisive action to avoid the issue becoming a “culture war”.
“I’m sure my instinct to defuse ugly culture wars is right,” he said.
“There are many people who feel the word ‘mother’ is special and worthy and there are others who feel their identity is not included – each has a legitimate point of view.
“We just need to be better at not having to have one view at the expense of the other.” Shorten said.
Shorten said people needed to recognise that the phrase montherhood was precious and imbued with meaning.
“Cancelling one doesn’t help the cause of diversity and tolerance.” the Minister said.
Services Australia, the government department running the trial of the new form, told OUTinPerth that since it’s induction the form had been filled out by 1,100 parents. They declined to comment on whether they had received any complaints about the wording on the form.
In media interviews Grover has said that she did not raise any concerns about the form with official, preferring to take her concerns to the media. Grover has also said that she would not have been concerned if the paperwork said simply ‘parent’, but was offended by the wording of ‘birthing parent’.
While the Minister says he was trying to avoid a “culture war”, his action has lead to a fresh wave of nightly discussions about people who are transgender on Sky News, a stream of opinion pieces in right-wing news sites, and has seen Shorten being praised by anti-transgender groups.
OIP Staff
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