Outsiders may have been excused for wondering just what was going on in Tasmania when our state passed its “transgender reforms” last year.
The simple fact is that Tasmanians never voted on the laws and were given almost no say in them. Many were justifiably outraged that such laws were passed with barely a semblance of public consultation.
Tasmania’s governing Liberal party has been told by its rank-and-file to ditch the laws.
Tasmanian Liberal party positivity has been tempered by heated debate over the future of Tasmania’s controversial transgender reforms.
The annual Liberal Party state council on Saturday had a largely congratulatory feel as members reflected on a highly unusual year.
But the temperature rose when Tasmania’s Liberal Party faithful determined the state’s landmark transgender reforms, which passed State Parliament with the support of Liberal Speaker Sue Hickey last year, should be repealed.
The laws were put forward and passed despite the Liberal government, thanks to the peculiarities of Tasmania’s parliament – and the political bastardry of Sue Hickey.
Hickey was elected on a safe Liberal ticket and almost immediately rewarded the party by ratting on them and striking a deal with the opposition Labor and Greens to reward herself with the Speaker’s job. Unsurprisingly for a former pageantzilla and weather girl, Hickey set about making it all about her, her her. Including demanding a pay rise that would have put her on par with Boris Johnson’s salary.
But it was Hickey’s deal with the Greens’ Cassy O’Connor to foist the latter’s odious transgender laws that really arked up her fellow Liberals.
A motion to repeal the changes, which make gender optional on birth certificates and remove a requirement for transgender people to have sex reassignment surgery before they can legally change their gender, was moved at the party’s annual State Council meeting at Bellerive on Saturday.
The motion was put forward by a member of the Lower Sandy Bay Branch, who said she was aware Ms Hickey would always vote with her heart, and that while she admired that, “empathy does not make good policy”.
Ms Hickey defended the legislation, telling the gathering of Liberal Party faithful that it had been “thoroughly scrutinised” by both houses of Parliament and had not caused any unintended consequences.
But it was never scrutinised by voters or the Tasmanian public. Instead, the laws were drawn up in secret with a shadowy clique of Queer activists. Anyone attempting to argue against the changes was summarily silenced with vexatious legal action.
When I canvassed ordinary Tasmanians in Launceston’s Brisbane St mall, it was clear that none of them had any idea what the laws actually entailed. When apprised of the proposed laws, most objected.
Hickey responded to the motion with obfuscation and misleading claims.
“A lot of people are born with indiscriminate genitalia, so a lot of parents are having to make the decision on whether they turn them into a boy or a girl.”
This is arrant garbage. The proportion of people born with “indeterminate” genitalia is vanishingly small: about 1 in 4500 births. That’s 0.02%. Or about 60 babies a year. Of those, most will still be of male or female appearance, but with some degree of genital “non-comformity”.
But if the backers of Tasmania’s laws are so confident in them, why the endless secrecy? The laws were drawn up in secret and sprung on an unsuspecting public during the summer “silly season”. The secrecy continues.
Members yelled across the room for Ms Hickey to “sit down” when she rose to clarify that a master list of gender data is still kept behind the scenes.
While the party rank-and-file passed the motion to repeal the laws, the motion is non-binding on the government. The Gutwein government at present does not have the numbers to repeal the laws anyway. The next Tasmanian election is not scheduled until 2022. It remains to be seen whether Premier Peter Gutwein will still be riding his current COVID high, or having to deal with the economic reckoning of shutting the whole state down for months.
If you enjoyed this BFD article please consider sharing it with your friends.