Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sex-based Rights) Bill 2026

Mr WILLCOX (Dawson) (11:49): I rise today to support the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sex-based Rights) Bill 2026, introduced by my friend the member for Lyne. Thirteen years ago, the Gillard Labor government deleted the biological definitions of 'man' and 'woman' from the federal statutes. That administration replaced physical facts with subjective feelings.

That ruling by Labor in 2013 was a major step backwards for the women in this country. In 1902, Australia led the world as the very first nation to grant women the dual rights to vote and stand for national parliament. Women didn't march, sacrifice and break barriers just for a future Labor government to render legally meaningless the very definition of what a woman is.

What a century of female pioneers built with grit and sheer determination, Labor dismantled with the stroke of a pen. Back then, people warned that dismantling biological definitions would lead to the erosion of private spaces and put the safety of women at risk, but they were dismissed and told there was absolutely no way that such unintended consequences would ever happen.

Yet this year the full Federal Court looked at the fatal flaws of that legislation during the landmark Giggle for Girls Pty Ltd v Roxanne Tickle appeal and confirmed the inevitable: under Australian law, gender is now legally fluid, legally changeable and legally meaningless. After the judgement, Robert Clarke, Director of Advocacy for ADF International, stated: A law written to protect women has been used to punish a woman for creating a space for women.

That is what today's judgment means in practice. The moment the law refuses to maintain the distinction between a male body and a female body, sex based protections cease to exist. It is that simple.

If a domestic violence shelter cannot draw an ironclad line at biological sex, then the sanctuary is gone. If a communal changing room cannot draw the line on biological sex, privacy is gone. The political irony of this modern moment is absolutely mind blowing.

The Albanese government repeatedly boasts that it stands as Australia's first-ever majority-female government, yet, under this collective watch, the legal category of 'woman' is being completely erased. The unprecedented numbers around the cabinet table have completely abandoned the women of Australia. A society that refuses to define what a woman is will ultimately find it unable to protect one.

There are those who seek to deliberately misrepresent this legislation, so let me be crystal clear that this bill is not an attack on transgender Australians, does not reduce their safety and does not reduce or diminish their human dignity. Protecting biological women does not require the mistreatment or exclusion of anyone else. True fairness means recognising that different groups have different needs.

This bill restores legal reality. It reinstates the clear, biological definitions of 'man' and 'woman' that were stripped away in 2013. It replaces the vague phrase 'different sex' with the accurate, scientific term 'opposite sex', reflecting the binary of human biology.

Importantly, this bill inserts a definitive new balancing clause establishing statutory protection for women-only spaces, services and sports against frivolous lawsuits. The coalition will not stand by and watch women's rights be systematically compromised on the altar of political correctness. The Australian people are fed-up.

They never voted to change the definitions of 'man' and 'woman'. These protections were dismantled without the consent of the majority. When the definitions were altered, there was no referendum, no broad based community consultation and no mandate from the quiet majority of citizens who expect their laws to reflect their reality.

Let common sense return to the statutes. Let the law anchor itself in reality. Let this chamber restore the rights and protections that Australian women deserve.

I commend the bill to the House. (Time expired)