Labor, the Greens and some crossbenchers have broken parliamentary convention and blocked the first reading of a bill which sought to restore biological reality to the nation’s laws. Liberal Senator Alex Antic and Nationals Senator Matt Canavan tabled a private senator’s bill to amend the Sex Discrimination Act by removing references to gender identity, and “restoring the act to its original purpose.” The Act states it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of age, disability, race, sex, intersex status, gender identity and sexual orientation, with the term “gender identity” controversially added in 2013 by the Gillard government. The Antic and Canavan Sex Discrimination Amendment (Restoring Biological Definitions) Bill would have returned clear definitions of a man and a woman as “members of the male and female sex respectively”, Senator Antic asserted. He added that “sex is not a social construct”, but rather a “core biological reality that underpins human nature.”
“The 2013 amendments made discrimination based on one’s appearance or mannerisms with reference to gender identity an offence.” First readings are traditionally considered a parliamentary formality. “While the Senate has the opportunity to reject a bill at the first reading stage, in practice the first reading is almost always passed without opposition and is regarded as a purely formal stage,” Deputy manager of Opposition business in the Senate Paul Scarr explained. The Liberal Senator pointed out that the Coalition had previously supported numerous bills tabled by the Greens, Labor and the crossbench, even though it had “strongly opposed” them. He argued first readings should not be politicised. “The normal process enables bills to be fairly considered and debated by the Senate before a substantive decision is taken.” “It should only be deviated from in the most extreme of circumstances, lest we deny the right of Senators to even have matters debated,” Senator Scarr added.
Manager of Government Business in the Senate Katy Gallagher conceded that first readings were a normal custom and practice. But the Labor Senator said the government would not allow the Senate to become a forum which could enable harm. “We do not agree with the Senate being a place where individual harm can be done to young people across this country.” “That is what would have happened had we allowed this bill to proceed in the normal course, and we won’t stand for it,” Senator Gallagher declared. The Family First Party called it “a breathtaking attack on parliamentary convention.” It commended Senators Alex Antic, Matt Canavan, Ralph Babet, Malcolm Roberts and other courageous crossbenchers “who stood in defence of truth, democracy and the rights of Australian women and children.” “Their bill would have removed radical gender ideology from the Act and reasserted the common-sense definitions of “man” and “woman” as biological terms.”
“This was not some stunt. This was a well-drafted bill intended to start a long-overdue national conversation about the harm being done in the name of gender identity,” the Family First statement continued. “Senator Gallagher tried to justify this extraordinary censorship by claiming that allowing debate would cause harm.” “But what could be more harmful than the sterilisation, mutilation and lifelong medicalisation of children in the name of LGBTQA+ ideology?” “What about the harm to women’s safety and dignity when biological men are allowed in their change rooms, prisons and sports?” The legislation was also scratched from the Parliament of Australia website, despite all other bills of the day being available for public viewing. In April in the lead up to the federal election, a declaration signed by more than 5,000 academics, doctors, mental health practitioners, teachers and concerned citizens called on all Australian political parties and candidates to clarify their answer to the question ‘What is a Woman?’
They called for the removal of ‘gender identity’ from section 5B of the Sex Discrimination Act. It followed the landmark decision by the UK Supreme Court legally affirming that the term ‘woman’ is based on biological sex, not gender identity. Family First concluded: “What Labor did last week was not only wrong. It was dangerous.” “Truth must not be outlawed. Debate must not be silenced.”
Source: Vision Christian Media
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