QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS
Senator BLYTH (South Australia) (15:17): Well, this question time was certainly extraordinary—to be lectured by the other side of this chamber about women's rights and equality for women. I put this to them: how do you possibly protect women's rights, how do you guarantee fairness, privacy and respect, when you cannot even define what a woman is? That is the truth of it.
We have women who are subjected to domestic violence and who are having to go into shelters, and they are being housed with men. We have men being housed in female prisons here in Australia. We've got a 31-year-old man playing hockey against girls as young as 14.
How is that fair and how is that safe? This government is completely and deliberately blind to what it means for women to not have biological reality in our Sex Discrimination Act. Now, we're not arguing about whether or not people would like to be transgender, but what this side of the chamber strongly believes in is that, when those two rights collide—when you have a man who identifies as a female, and women—women's rights should not come second to those of that man.
Currently, that's exactly what happens under our Sex Discrimination Act here in Australia. I want to shout out to Sall Grover, who has fought this fight for three years. She took her fight all the way to the High Court.
It is now abundantly clear that the Sex Discrimination Act is not fit for purpose. It is not fit for purpose for the women of Australia and it is not fit for purpose for young girls in Australia. So it is very, very clear that it is up to this parliament to take action.
The coalition has tried to assist the government to restore common sense to the Sex Discrimination Act, and twice now the government has refused to act. What that is saying to every young girl and every woman in Australia is, 'Your rights and your safety come second to men in this country.' On the other side of the chamber, Labor keep telling us how they are the champions of women in our country.
That's what we keep being told. We've got a prime minister who went out and made some pretty revolting comments around melons in relation to the Japanese prime minister. Women on that side of the chamber come in here with a straight face and say, 'The Prime Minister talks with his hands.' I mean, come on!
Is that seriously the excuse you've come up with? You can't possibly say you are a champion of women and equal rights and then come in here and defend the actions of the Prime Minister, saying he just talks with his hands, and then make sure that for every young girl and every woman in Australia their rights come second because we will not put biological reality back into the Sex Discrimination Act.
Then let's talk about the types of people that that side of the chamber—who are, let's not forget, the champions of women!—want to employ. We've got Rhys Muldoon's comments. I'm not actually going to repeat them in the chamber, because they are that disgusting.
These are comments about women, good, strong women who are going out there and advocating for their communities. They're advocating for the rights of women. This is a bloke who's employed by a Labor senator who is making these remarks publicly.
It is just disgraceful. This government says one thing and does another. (Time expired) Question agreed to.