Dear Sr,
Have you seen the atrocious guidelines the Australian Sports Commission has released telling us that males should be allowed into women’s elite sport?
The Commission’s CEO Kieren Perkins was asked by Steve Price why his organisation was going in the opposite direction to sensible sports bodies which have stepped up to protect the female category:
PRICE: “Kieren, have you put yourself at odds with World Aquatics and Athletics here? It seems to me that your ruling and regulation is not as strong as theirs?”
PERKINS: “We certainly do take a very different view to those organisations that you’ve mentioned… In this country, our guidelines are very clear in pointing out that we need to understand the Sex Discrimination Act and recognise that maybe some of these guidelines that have internationally been imposed don’t hold water here legally…”
This is a big problem for Anthony Albanese.
Firstly, because it’s a national embarrassment for it to be unlawful to offer single-sex sport in line with the international rules of swimming, athletics or rugby.
Secondly, because Albanese is on the public record condescendingly denying the existence of the very same legal problem for sporting codes that Perkins has just confirmed.
And here’s what his Sports Minister said about my plans to protect single-sex women’s sport in Australia:
The sports minister, Anika Wells, has said the federal government has no plans to introduce legislative change on the issue, adding that Chandler’s “alienating bill can go right to the back of the shelf to gather dust”.
Albanese was either clueless or deliberately misleading Australians when he claimed that guaranteeing women and girls single-sex sport was already covered in the Sex Discrimination Act.
Here’s what I said inmy second reading speech on the Save Women’s Sport Bill:
“Sporting codes are effectively prevented by Commonwealth law from implementing a clear, upfront rule providing that their women's competitions are single-sex.
“Female players and athletes therefore have no certainty that despite having registered for a women's competition, they will not be required to compete against males.
“This Bill removes those problems by clarifying that sport and sporting activity can be operated on the basis of sex and it will not be a breach of the Act to do so.”
Perkins, and even the ABC, now admit I was absolutely correct and sporting organisations can be taken to court for asking males not to play in women’s sport.
But for carefully drafting a Bill to fix a legal loophole which limits the rights of women and girls to compete on a level playing field, the ABC launched an ideological attack on me and others who supported my Bill – including resorting to hit pieces found by their own complaints department to be highly misleading and in breach of the national broadcaster’s impartiality standards.
It’s a perfect example of how governments and the media resort to insults and mistruths to shut down any criticism of gender ideology and the devastating impact on women and girls.
Yours sincerely,
Senator Claire Chandler
Liberal Senator for Tasmania
Over to the political forum you go.
