OPINION
Brian Greig is the Western Australian spokesperson for national LGBTIQA+ rights group Just.Equal. He was member of the Australian Senate for the Australian Democrats from 1999 – 2005.
The transgender law reform bill proposed by the Cook Government is inadequate and retrograde.
It does not bring us into line with other states; it is miles away from ‘gold standard’ legislation established in Tasmania five years ago.
It is weaker legislation than exists in Queensland, Victoria and the ACT. It is weaker than the proposed reform in NSW advocated through Mr Alex Greenwich MP’s ‘Equality Bill’.
The core problem is that the bill fails to allow trans and gender diverse people to legally self-identify. It fails to ensure equality.
Instead, it entrenches medical gate-keeping for gender identity by requiring letters from health care practitioners before birth certificates can be amended to reflect and affirm the identity of trans and gender diverse people.
The bill reinforces the myth that trans and gender diverse people need to have their identity “objectively” verified before society can believe who they say they are.
The bill entrenches the trope that trans and gender diverse people may be mistaken, confused or deceptive about their identity, a trope that is one of the foundations of the current anti-trans backlash.
It wasn’t a coincidence that the same man who drafted the legislation, Attorney-General John Quigley, justified it by perpetuating the cruel, damaging myth that self-identification might lead to:
“Someone who, for example, has been convicted of a nasty aggravated sexual offence, then changing gender so they can access women only areas.”
Quigley’s law perpetuates and panders to transphobia.
Lobby groups weak
So, why have local lobby groups been so soft in criticising the bill and quick to endorse it?
Why did TransFolk of WA agree to announce it at a press conference with the Attorney General?
Why was OUTinPerth not invited?
In launching the bill, Danielle Laidley praised the Cook Government for being “progressive and compassionate” despite the legislation being weaker and more backwards than in her home state of Victoria.
Abolishing the Gender Reassignment Board is overdue, but failing to meet national benchmarks and reinforcing anti-trans myths is regressive.
Spokesperson for TransFolk of WA, Dylan Green, rather meekly “noted” that the government’s proposal “did not meet all the recommendations from the Law Reform Commission report in 2018.”
“We will be making further recommendations… and advocating further law reforms,” Green said.
In The West Australian on Monday, Misty Farquhar and others associated with Rainbow Futures said much the same.
After praising the legislation as “a good step forward,” Mx Farquhar pointed out some of the problems, adding that these might be fixed by “accompanying regulations”.
Might? I fear this is too little too late. The cart has been put before the horse. This bill should never have been launched while it fails to meet the legitimate needs of trans and gender diverse West Australians.
Window of opportunity
Let’s be clear: the Labor Party controls both houses of parliament. The Left Faction dominates caucus. There are five LGBTIQA+ MPs in the government; the most of any state. The Liberal Party with just two seats in the Legislative Assembly poses no threat.
Given all this, why on earth would anyone in our community tolerate let along accept a bill that will move us from last in Australia – to still last?
Why would any LGBTIQA+ lobby group offer mealy-mouthed support for it? Why wouldn’t we send it back and insist on a gold standard replacement?
Medical model outdated
As I’ve said, the Quigley bill is unacceptable because it locks WA into a medical model of gender diverse identity.
All other states (apart from NSW), have abandoned this archaic approach and taken steps towards self-identification.
Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, and the ACT also removed the need for trans and gender diverse people to secure medical sign-offs.
Tasmania has fully-fledged self identification. It does not require any supporting statements at all, and allows people the option to remove gender from a birth certificate altogether.
By contrast the Quigley bill maintains these outdated, paternalistic requirements.
Dangerous precedent
This regressive politics from the Cook Government sets a really bad precedent for watering down the next tranche of LGBTIQA+ law reforms the Attorney has indicated. It legitimises going backwards.
If the state government is going to back away from equality benchmarks in other states, what might this mean for conversion practices and discrimination in faith schools?
If local lobby groups are going to roll-over so easily on this bill, what else will the government be planning to water-down knowing there will be no substantive protest?
Time to leapfrog
To be fair, given how cruel and humiliating the Gender Reassignment Board is, it’s understandable that TGD people would welcome ANY reform that improves on that.
But as a state why would we settle for third rate reform? Why wouldn’t we use this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go from worst jurisdiction to best?
Twenty years ago our LGBTIQA+ equality laws leap-frogged over all other states as we went from worst to best. In 2024, why would anyone think going backwards from other states was acceptable?
If the Quigley bill is passed as is, it will undermine proposed trans reforms in NSW to remove the medical model, because conservatives will use WA as a reason not to.
Funding compromises integrity
There are legitimate concerns in the LGBTIQA+ community that the muted criticism from TransFolk of WA and Rainbow Futures is due to the state government funding they recently received (with more promised), compromising their effectiveness and objectivity.
As a community we must insist on fearless advocacy and greater transparency from lobby groups that receive money from the government.
It’s more important than ever for lobby groups to advise government without fear or favour. What’s needed is the unequivocal advice that any trans and gender diverse bill which locks our state into the medical model and is weaker than national benchmarks is not acceptable.
Pledge for the future
I call on Rainbow Futures to commit to the principle that it will not endorse any legislation that does not meet best-practice in other states. This includes trans and gender diverse laws, conversion practices, faith schools, surrogacy, anti-vilification and intersex reform.
We owe it to the next generation of LGBTIQA+ West Australians to lead the nation and not fall even further behind.
Brian Greig is the Western Australian spokesperson for national LGBTIQA+ rights group Just.Equal. He was member of the Australian senate for the Australian Democrats from 1999 – 2005.
OUTinPerth offered Rainbow Futures WA and TransFolk of WA the right to respond to this editorial. You can read their comments in full below.
Rainbow Futures WA:
Rainbow Futures WA has been clear and assertive in all communications with government. This includes a comprehensive gender recognition reform proposal developed in partnership with TransFolk of WA and independent community advocates, based on extensive community consultation and a review of legislation in other states. Since the announcement of the bill, we have repeatedly informed government representatives of its inadequacies, while acknowledging that the changes will significantly improve the gender recognition process for trans and gender diverse people in WA.
The State Government’s consultation processes with the community are lacking and we are actively lobbying for more open and inclusive practices. Rainbow Futures WA was founded on the premise that outcomes for our community are better when we work together. For that reason, everything we do happens in collaboration with the relevant LGBTIQA+ community groups and representatives.
TransFolk of WA:
TransFolk of WA is a service organisation. We provide services to the trans and gender diverse community in WA. We also engage productively with governments and other organisations to advance the interests of the community.
We welcome advocacy from all community members and organisations, which is important to ensure that government hears the strength and diversity of opinion across our community.
We are pleased to have received funding to support the organisation’s work for our community. TransFolk of WA has raised with government at every opportunity a range of issues with their announced reform, and we continue to do so.
