Catherine McGregor speaks out against Safe Schools

Catherine McGregor has spoken out about her strong opposition to the Safe Schools Coalition in a deeply personal attack on one of the program’s staff members.

Writing in the Herald Sun’s Rendezvous site, McGregor labels Roz Ward from the Safe Schools Coalition a “committed Trotskyite, who believes in the overthrow of the capitalist system” and argues that the Safe Schools Coalition is not the most effective way to assist transgender youth.

McGregor said the programs approach that suggests people could consider themselves to be genderless was not not the most effective approach.

In her article McGregor writes about how the political party the Socialist Alternative “sickens” her when she reads about what they stand for.

The retired defense force staffer also notes she is offended by Ward’s lack of support for the military. McGregor said she had found Ward to have “contempt” for the armed forces – in which McGregor had served in for almost four decades.

Catherine McGregor was ‘Queenslander of the Year’ in 2015 and a nominee for ‘Australian of the Year’ in 2016. When the award was given to her former commanding officer David Morrison, she described him a “weak, conventional choice”. McGregor subsequently apologised for the comment.

Safe Schools Coalition and Roz Ward were contacted for comment but able to respond before OUTinPerth’s print deadline.