Sex discrimination
Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (12:29): (254) My question is for the minister representing the Minister for Equality. The erasure of biological sex based rights in the law is impacting many vulnerable members of our community. Recently it was reported in the news that Victoria’s new Pride Centre, which has held trans-only events which legally discriminated on the basis of gender, rejected an application to hold a lesbian-only event which would have legally discriminated on the basis of sex and sexuality. The Lesbian Action Group, a group of lesbians from Melbourne and central Victoria, were told by Justine Dalla Riva, CEO of the Pride Centre, that their request to hold a lesbian-only event seeks to legally discriminate against people via the Australian Human Rights Commission exemption and is inconsistent with the Pride Centre’s purpose. My question is: will the minister seek to reinstate biological sex based rights into Victorian law so that, among other things, same-sex-attracted men and women do not have to apply for an exemption and be labelled uninclusive just to host their own events?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:30): I thank Mrs Deeming for her question. I will pass that on to the Minister for Equality in relation to the specifics of your question, but when you put situations that you allege have happened and you use statements from other people, it is important to note that a minister will go and make inquiries in relation to responding to that, not necessarily confirming the accuracy of such statements. But Ms Shing will provide an answer to Mrs Deeming.
Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (12:31): Nicole Mowbray from LGB Alliance Australia and the Lesbian Action Group said:
The irony is we can legally get married now but we can’t exclusively meet in a single-sex space.
Sex, gender and sexuality are listed as separate protected attributes in Victorian law, but in practice they do not seem to be equally protected. Will the minister take action to stop the practice of unfairly and unequally applying anti-discrimination laws against females and same-sex-attracted people in Victoria?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:31): I will leave that for Ms Shing to provide an answer to. Equally some of the elements of your question could be directed to me as Attorney-General, but there are also applications of laws that could very well be a matter for those that enforce the laws, or complaints can be made to VEOHRC and the like, so there are a range of avenues to respond to your supplementary question. But I might work with Ms Shing to make sure that the relevant information comes your way.