Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024
Ms SPENDER (Wentworth) (20:22): by leave—I move amendments (2) to (10) and (12), as circulated in my name, together: (2) Schedule 1, page 3 (after line 12), after item 2, insert: 2A Section 80.1A of the Criminal Code Insert: sex characteristics, of a person, means the person's physical features and development related to the person's sex, and includes: (a) genitalia, gonads and other sexual and reproductive parts of the person's anatomy; and (b) the person's chromosomes, genes and hormones that are related to the person's sex; and (c) the person's secondary physical features emerging as a result of puberty.
(3) Schedule 1, item 4, page 3 (line 17), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics". (4) Schedule 1, item 7, page 3 (line 25), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics". (5) Schedule 1, item 12, page 4 (line 15), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics".
(6) Schedule 1, item 15, page 4 (line 23), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics". (7) Schedule 1, item 19, page 5 (line 14), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics". (8) Schedule 1, item 19, page 5 (line 26), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics".
(9) Schedule 1, item 19, page 6 (line 30), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics". (10) Schedule 1, item 19, page 7 (line 14), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics". (12) Schedule 1, item 20, page 8 (lines 13 and 14), omit "intersex status", substitute "sex characteristics".
My amendments make one further amendment to the list of targeted groups in this bill by removing the outdated term 'intersex status' and replacing it with 'sex characteristics,' as requested by Equality Australia in their submission. The Senate inquiry acknowledged this is a reasonable change to the law, including it as recommendation 4. This terminology is consistent with the national trend towards the choice of language, which better represents and reflects the preferences of this community.
We're not the first movers to have done this; in fact, the Senate inquiry notes several states and territories have already pivoted to this term in recognition of the international human rights recommendations. So I urge the government, the opposition and the crossbench to support these amendments on the basis that this is requested by the community and there are significant precedents in the law across the land.