Life-changing move requires more debate

Tasmanians should not be able to make decisions about their name and gender at the age of just 16, says Ben Smith

A 16- YEAR-OLD can’t vote, can’t drink, and under Tasmanian law they can’t even buy a can of spray paint. They are still legally a child.

Yet, under the proposed changes to gender law currently before the Tasmanian parliament, a 16year-old child will be able to legally change both their gender, and their name, without the approval of their parents.

Most people probably know that under the proposed changes, a child’s biological sex won’t be put on their birth certificate unless the parents decide to do so.

But did you also know that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade requires documentary evidence of a person’s sex for all first-time passport applications?

And, if these changes become law and a child’s parents decline to put their sex on their birth certificate, the only way to get that information added will be via an application to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, or even a magistrate in some circumstances?

What about the fact that individuals will be able to be dragged through extensive quasi-legal proceedings and fined up to $3000, plus unspecified other damages, for “misgendering” a transgender individual – for example, by calling them “Mr” when they identify as a woman?

These are just some of the consequences of the proposed new gender laws that the Tasmanian Coalition For Kids is concerned about.

In our view, these proposed gender laws are bad law and parliamentary debate needs to be deferred until there has been full community consultation and proper legal analysis.

We have identified a number of serious problems with these proposed laws, including:

They have been rushed, there has been no public consultation.

The changes, particularly removing gender from birth certificates, go too far and are out of step with community sentiment.

There will be bad law as a result of this rushed legislation, for example in relation to identity documents.

Lack of proper process – these proposed changes haven’t gone through the usual checks and balances, such as high-level bureaucratic and legal vetting

The proposed changes have serious implications for child safety and women’s rights – for example, public toilet facilities, prisons and in women’s sport.

Proponents of the proposed new laws who say 98 per cent of the community won’t be affected by these are just plain wrong.

Every Tasmanian will be affected – be it through making sex on birth certificates optional; the changes to anti-discrimination law; or the potential flow-on impacts on things like singlesex schools and women’s sport.

Nor, despite claims of the proponents, have these laws been properly consulted with the community; and the consequences of enacting them hasn’t been fully analysed and considered by legal experts.

The proposed changes could even have implications for the prison system.

Is the Tasmanian Government budgeting to build separate transgender units at Risdon Prison, and in the new northern prison, if these laws pass?

I want to be clear: we fully support transgender individuals, but we worry about the consequences of the proposed law changes currently in the Tasmanian parliament.

We just want to let kids be kids.

That’s why we strongly believe that debate should be deferred to a Parliamentary Inquiry so full and proper public consultation can occur.

And the Law Reform Institute of Tasmania should be allowed time to properly consider the full range of legal changes and ramifications of these proposed new laws.

Ben Smith is spokesperson for the Tasmanian Coalition for Kids. TC4K is a group of individuals and organisations who are concerned about the potential impacts of proposed changes to gender laws on children.