Restriction on trans athletes is a terrific idea, says Australian PM

Morrison has angered equality groups with his comments on the ‘save women’s sports’ policy

THE Australian prime minister has declared his support for a “terrific” Bill that would ban transgender athletes from single-sex sports.

Under the “save women’s sports” Bill, changes would be made to the Sex Discrimination Act to “clarify” that the operation of single-sex sport on the basis of biological sex was not discriminatory. The private member’s Bill was presented to the senate last month by Tasmanian senator Claire Chandler.

Campaigning in Tasmania ahead of the federal election in May, Scott Morrison said: “I support it, as Claire knows. I think it’s a terrific Bill and I’ve given her great encouragement.

“Claire is a champion for women’s sport and I think she’s been right to raise these issues in the way that she has. Well done, Claire.”

However, equality groups have reacted angrily to the proposals, which would allow sporting groups to exclude trans people from playing women’s sport. Charlie Burton, from Equality Tasmania, said the Bill would strip transgender people of their “right to live as we are, casting us into an unequal, uncertain and unsafe status in the eyes of the law”.

He added: “We reject attempts to sow fear and division about policies that have worked well and have made Tasmania a better place for everyone.”

The debate over trans athletes is already raging in the United States, where Lia Thomas, 22, has dominated collegiate women’s swimming as a student athlete at the University of Pennsylvania. Just a few years ago she competed as a man. Her case has divided opinion, with some arguing she has an unfair physiological advantage while others say she should be allowed to compete freely as a woman.

In 2019, while competing on the men’s team, Thomas began to medically transition, taking testosterone blockers and oestrogen. Although her swim times slowed considerably, she is still a top competitor in several women’s events, raising questions about the role of testosterone in athletic performance.

This month the governing body, USA Swimming, unveiled new guidelines, with a more stringent threshold for athletes’ testosterone levels – widely seen as making it harder for Thomas to be able to compete in major meets.

This is not the first time Mr Morrison has weighed into the transgender debate. Responding to a report that teachers were being trained to identify potential transgender children in the classroom, he tweeted: “We do not need

‘We don’t deserve to be disrespected like that through tweets from our prime minister’

‘gender whisperers’ in our schools. Let kids be kids.” The controversy prompted a transgender child Evie, 13, to confront him on Australian talk show The Project.

“I’m Evie, I’m 13, and I’m a transgender kid, and this is what I want to say to the prime minister,” she said. “There are thousands of kids in Australia that are gender diverse. We don’t deserve to be disrespected like that through tweets from our prime minister.

“I went to a Christian school where I had to pretend to be a boy and spend weeks in conversion therapy,” she said.

“We get one childhood and mine was stolen from me by attitudes like this.”

Asked to respond to the emotionally charged statement, Mr Morrison said: “I love all Australians, whatever the background they come from.”