The Australian Press Council has found that an opinion piece published in the NT Times and the Cairns Post failed to fully present facts about the closure of a gender clinic in Great Britain, Australia’s Safe Schools program, and Victoria’s legislation against conversion therapy practices.
The article titled Woke world is wobbling was printed in both newspapers on 3rd September 2022. While the finding against the two papers does not name the specific columnist who penned the article, OUTinPerth’s research has revealed it was attributed to Dr Kevin Donnelly AM.
Dr Donnelly is a Senior Fellow at the Australian Catholic University’s PM Glynn Institute and previously headed a review of Australia’s National Curriculum. He is a long-standing critic of the Safe Schools program that was created to reduce bullying of LGBTIQA+ students, and a regular commentator on Sky News.
The Press Council said the article was an opinion piece in which the columnist stated that “In Britain, the gender fluidity clinic Tavistock was recently closed after an inquiry concluded allowing often confused and immature children to transition to another gender put them ‘at considerable risk’”.
The columnist went on to say that “Over the past 10 years the Safe Schools program has told students Australian society is guilty of homophobia, transphobia and heteronormativity and the way to achieve sexual freedom is to embrace what Roz Ward describes as a world where ‘bodies can blossom in extraordinary, new and amazing ways that we can only try to imagine today’”.
The article also commented that “Even worse, notwithstanding events surrounding Tavistock, in Victoria Chairman Dan has legislated to stop parents, priests and health professionals from counselling young people about the dangers and harmful consequences of taking puberty blockers.”
The Press Council said that even though it was an opinion piece the publisher had an obligation to take reasonable steps to ensure factual material is accurate and not misleading and expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts.
The British government has announced The Tavistock Clinic will be closing in favour of several regional centres that will offer a more comprehensive treatment model. The Cass Review which proceeded the announcement found there was a risk in the model of care that was being used at the clinic, but the Press Council highlighted the review had not found that transitioning genders was a risk.
The council noted that the BBC article which was referred to in the opinion piece did not make the claim featured in the piece.
“The Cass Review, and the BBC article in turn, refer to the model of care at the Tavistock clinic as creating the risk, not the act of gender transition itself.” the Press Council said.
The council also found that comments about the Safe Schools program were not factual either.
“In regard to the columnist’s comments concerning Safe Schools, the Council also does not accept that there was anything in material relied upon by the publication, to assert that students are being told that Australian society is guilty of homophobia, transphobia and heteronormativity.
“The Council does not accept that explanatory words contained in a glossary of terms, nor the public comments of co-designer of Safe Schools referred to by the publication, support the columnist’s comments in relation to this statement.” the finding reads.
Finally, statements about the legislation in Victoria could not be substantiated either.
“In regard to the columnist’s comment that Victorian legislation prevents “parents, priests and health professionals from counselling young people about the dangers and harmful consequences of taking puberty blockers”, the Council notes that the publication did not refer to specific aspects of the legislation which contained such a prohibition and does not consider that there was anything in the material relied upon by the publication to substantiate this statement.”
The Press Council adjudication found that the two newspaper who ran the column had failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the factual material in the article is accurate and not misleading, and that the columnist’s expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts.
Both newspapers have published the findings of the review.
OUTinPerth contacted Dr Donnelly for comment, image: digital composition.
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