The writs for the Western Australian state election will be issued at 6pm today (3 February 2021). The upcoming poll, on Saturday 13 March, is an opportunity to make long-overdue progress on a range of important policy issues affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

As with elections last year in the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland, I am writing to political parties contesting the WA election asking for their commitments on LGBTI law reform.

While there are a variety of different policy issues that must be addressed, my letter focuses on two areas where I have the most expertise:

• Reform of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA),^[i] and
• Changes to identity documentation for trans and gender diverse people.^[ii]

This letter has been sent to the leaders of the WA Labor Party, Liberal Party and National Party, as well as to all MLCs from other parties: The Greens; One Nation; Liberal Democrats; Shooters, Fishers and Farmers; and Western Australia Party. As with previous elections, I will post any responses I receive from these parties below.

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Given the upcoming Western Australian state election, I am writing to ask about your Party’s positions on two important issues for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

I do so as a long-term advocate for the LGBTI community, including via my website www.alastairlawrie.net where I focus on anti-discrimination and anti-vilification law reform around Australia, among other topics.

The first issue I would like to ask about is reform of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA), which is necessary to address its serious shortcomings in relation to discrimination against and vilification of LGBTI people in Western Australia. Specifically:

1. Will you protect intersex people against discrimination by introducing a new protected attribute of ‘sex characteristics’?
2. Will you protect all trans and gender diverse people against discrimination by replacing the current inappropriate, ineffective and outdated protected attribute of discrimination against ‘a gender reassigned person on gender history grounds’ with a protected attribute of ‘gender identity’?
3. Will you protect LGBT students, teachers and other staff at religious schools against discrimination by removing the special privileges which currently allow them to discriminate?
4. Will you protect LGBT employees at, and people accessing services from, religious organisations in health, housing and other community services against discrimination by amending religious exceptions generally, based on the best practice approach in Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1998?
5. Will you protect LGBTI people against hate speech by introducing prohibitions on vilification on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics?

The second issue I would like to ask about is access to identity documentation, including birth certificates, for trans and gender diverse people, which is another area where Western Australia’s legislative approach has fallen far behind most other jurisdictions. Specifically:

1. Will you allow trans and gender diverse people to update their birth certificates and other identity documents without requiring surgery, other medical treatments or counselling?
2. Will you allow trans and gender diverse people to update their birth certificates and other identity documents based on self-identification alone?
3. Will you allow trans and gender diverse people to update their birth certificates and other identity documents by identifying as male, female, non-binary or ‘other, please specify’, in line with recent reforms in both Tasmania and Victoria?

Thank you in advance for your prompt consideration of this request. Please note that any answers provided will be published via my website, to assist LGBTI people in Western Australia make an informed choice on Saturday 13 March.

Please do not hesitate to contact me, at the details provided, should you require clarification of the above.

Sincerely

Alastair Lawrie

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Update: 13 February 2021

During the week, I received the first formal Party response to the above correspondence, from the WA Greens. Their commitments are reproduced below:

Dear Alastair

Thank you for your email to WA Greens MPs.

I am pleased to advise that the Greens are committed to removing discrimination on the grounds of gender identity or sexuality from all federal and state laws. We want the process for legal recognition of gender in Western Australia to be simplified and for Western Australian birth certificates to have an X gender marker, in line with most of the rest of Australia.

The Greens (WA) will encourage and support legislation and actions that ensure that intersex and transgender people, without undertaking surgeries, are able to alter their sex on all official documents, consistent with how they live and identify, and irrespective of their marital status.

As the Member for the North Metropolitan Region and Greens (WA) spokesperson I have been a long term advocate in this space. In 2018 I introduced a Private Members Bill into the WA Legislative Council, the Equal Opportunity (LGBTIQ Anti-Discrimination) Amendment Bill 2018, seeking to end discrimination against LGBTIQ parents, students and staff by religious schools. Disappointingly, this bill has not received the support necessary from other political parties for it to be passed and to become law.

The Greens will continue to fight to remove all exceptions in the Equal Opportunity Act that permit discrimination against people on the basis of their gender identity and/or sexuality.

If you would like more information, the Greens (WA) Sexuality & LGBTQIA+ Issues and Gender Identity policies provide more information about our party’s commitments in these areas.

The Greens have also proposed a WA Charter of Rights to provide further protections against rights-based infringements including discrimination.

Thank you for your interest and advocacy in this important area.

Kind regards

Alison

Hon Alison Xamon MLC (BA, LLB, Cert IV HS, Cert Adv Arb)

Member for the North Metropolitan Region, Legislative Council, Parliament of Western Australia

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Update: 25 February 2021

On Tuesday (23 February 2021), I received the following reply from the Leader of the WA Nationals, Mia Davies, which, as you will see, does not give specific commitments on either LGBTI anti-discrimination law reform or improved access to birth certificates for trans and gender diverse people – other than that Nationals MPs would be granted conscience votes on both issues.

Dear Mr Lawrie

2021 STATE ELECTION: LGBTI LEGISLATIVE REFORM

Thank you for your correspondence dated 3 February 2021. I appreciate your advocacy in relation to LGBTI legislation and the need for reform.

One of the founding principles of The Nationals WA is that regional West Australians deserve access to relevant services and protections against discrimination, regardless of their postcode. As you would be aware the day-to-day issues faced by LGBTI people are often exacerbated by remoteness and isolation from services and support networks.

If legislation to resolve the issues raised was introduced to Parliament, voting on it would be a matter of conscience for Members of The Nationals WA team. I encourage you to send your questions to each local candidate in The Nationals WA team for their individual responses. Their details can be found on our website http://www.nationalswa.com/

Although not specific to LGBTI individuals and families, The Nationals WA have made the following election commitments to date which may be of interest:

-$15 million for an office of the State Rural Health Commissioner, to complement the work done at a national level. This office would be independent of Government, providing advice and reporting on rural and regional health concerns.

-$140 million for regional mental health services, including demographically targeted funding for regional community support hours.

Further details on these and other election commitments can be found on our website.

Yours sincerely

Hon Mia Davies MLA

LEADER

Footnotes:

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^[i] For example, see What’s wrong with Western Australia’s Equal Opportunity Act 1984?  and A Quick Guide to Australian LGBTI Anti-Discrimination Laws.

^[ii] For example, see Identity, Not Surgery and Did You Know? Trans People in NSW and Queensland Still Require Surgery to Update Their Birth Certificates.