Battle on in ‘trivial’ gender complaint

A TASMANIAN senator will fight a discrimination complaint over her comments on female changerooms and transgender women.

Liberal senator Claire Chandler (pictured) is calling for Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt to dismiss the complaint as “vexatious, trivial and without substance”.

Senator Chandler has written to Ms Bolt urging her to reconsider the matter after she was ordered to attend a mediation session with the complainant, despite the commissioner having ruled part of his complaint was not valid because he is not a member of the trans-community.

“I will not bbe withdrawing, retracting, modifying or apologising for my comments on women’s sport and women’s facilities,” Senator Chandler said in a statement.

“All Australians should be free to discuss public policy issues and to acknowledge the realities of biological sex without being silenced by anti-discrimination tribunals and unelected bureaucrats.

“My response to the commissioner has questioned the validity of actions undertaken by her, which in effect would prevent an elected member of parliament from speaking about public policy issues.

“The appropriate course of action for the commissioner to now take is to dismiss this complaint as vexatious, trivial and without substance .”

Equality Tasmania spokesman Charlie Burton said: “We strongly support free speech but we also want to see informed speech.”

He urged Senator Chandler to meet with transgender Tasmanians.