16 October 2024 – Equality Australia has welcomed the passage of the Equality Bill through the NSW lower house, saying parliament has the chance to improve the lives of people around the state.
Independent MP Alex Greenwich’s amended bill passed 50 votes to 30 on Wednesday night, more than 12 months after it was first introduced to parliament.
The NSW Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023 will be debated in the upper house tomorrow.
“We are calling on all members of the Legislative Council to support these vital reforms and bring NSW into the 21st century,” said Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown.
Ms Brown said some of the opposition’s commentary about the bill deliberately demonised a small and vulnerable group of the population.
The Bill includes long overdue reforms to birth certificate legislation.
“NSW is the only place in Australia to require surgery on reproductive organs in order for people to access ID documents that recognise them for who they are,” Ms Brown said.
“This means trans people can be forced to out themselves when applying for jobs, getting a mortgage or registering for school or university. It also leaves people struggling with mismatching documents such as passports and driver’s licences.
“These reforms will ensure their lived reality matches their legal identity.”
Ms Brown said some of the opposition’s commentary about the bill deliberately demonised a small and vulnerable group of the population.
“Trans women, like all women, deserve to feel welcome and supported, and to be treated with dignity and respect,” she said.
“Women’s spaces should be open to every woman seeking facilities, friendship, safety or connection.
Protections for LGBTQ+ students and staff in religious schools are no longer included in the bill after Mr Greenwich amended it to ensure the reforms passed through parliament.
“These schools rely on millions of dollars of taxpayer funding every year and they should uphold the same non-discriminatory practices that state schools have abided by for decades,” Ms Brown said.
“People are genuinely shocked to discover a religious school can legally fire a woman for falling pregnant outside of marriage or expel a student because they are gay or trans.”
The NSW Law Reform Commission is currently considering this issue as part of a broad review of the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act which is expected to be finalised next year.
Ashley Scott, Executive Officer of Rainbow Families said:
“The ban on overseas commercial surrogacy had been ineffective with no prosecutions taking place in NSW since the commencement of the Surrogacy Act in 2010.
“Children should be equal before the law regardless of the circumstances of their conception, and criminalising the actions of parents for bringing their children into the world is not in a child’s best interests.
"To deprive a child of the security and certainty of legal parentage because of the manner of their conception is inhuman and nothing is gained from criminalising loving and caring parents.”
“All children deserve equal recognition, protection and access to legal rights, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.”
Jackie Turner, Director of the Trans Justice Project:
"These are significant reforms that will improve the lives of thousands of people in NSW, updating long-outdated laws and allowing many trans and gender diverse people to finally be recognised for who they are.
“However, we are incredibly disappointed that urgent anti-discrimination protections for our community have once again been delayed by the government.
“Delaying these reforms means that our community will continue to be fired, expelled, and denied service in religious institutions simply for being who they are.”
Mary O’Sullivan, Women’s Electoral Lobby said:
“Women’s Electoral Lobby has always championed an inclusive feminism where people can challenge the rigid constraints of patriarchal definitions and where gender categories do not determine our lives.
“We congratulate Alex Greenwich, Member for Sydney for the amended Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023. We are delighted that the NSW Government supports the Bill.
“We are especially pleased to note inclusions in the Bill which make hatred for or prejudice against transgender, gender diverse or intersex people an aggravating factor in sentencing and which clarify the Mental Health Act 2007 that expressing, or refusing to express, a particular gender identity does not mean that someone has a mental illness.
“Once enacted the Bill will allow NSW to catch up with all other Australian Jurisdictions which allow people to register a change of sex without the cruel requirement for surgery.”
Background: full list of reforms in bill
• Trans and gender diverse people can update their birth certificate without surgery
• Available sex descriptors on birth certificates to include non-binary
• Extra time to register a birth if variations of sex characteristics make it difficult to determine sex (extended from 60 days to 180 days)
• Family members can alter the record of sex of a trans or gender diverse child/parent/sibling’s sex that appears on their own birth certificate
• Offences for living off the earnings of a sex worker repealed
• Decisions about where to accommodate a child under state protection will have to consider an appropriate placement for their gender identity or variations in sex characteristics (as it does for their sexuality and religion etc.)
• Children (under 16s) who have had their gender affirming care – or any other Special Medical Treatment – approved by the Family Court, will not have to also get NCAT approval
• Threats to out a person’s LGBTIQA+ status or sex work history will be an offence
• Aggravated sentencing for crimes motivated by hate for a group will be extended to hate for gender identity and being intersex
• Outdated and stigmatising language used to describe people living with HIV or AIDS is being updated
• The Mental Health Act will make it clear that gender identity and gender expression are not mental illnesses and are not reasons to detain someone
• There will be a pathway for children born out of overseas commercial surrogacy arrangements to have their parents recognised
Media contact: Emily Mulligan emily.mulligan@equalityaustralia.org.au 0411 207 633
