Alison Penfold will fight to protect women in Sex Discrimination Act

Member for Lyne Alison Penfold is standing up for women and their rights, set to introduce practical amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act in Parliament next week. 

Ms Penfold said she was proud to introduce a Private Member’s Bill to strengthen and restore sex-based protections for women and girls under Australian law. 

Importantly, Ms Penfold will also seek to reinstate the legal definition of a woman. 

“Every Australian deserves dignity, safety and respect but women and girls deserve certainty that sex-based protections in law mean something in practice – on the sporting field, in women’s only gyms, on women-only online apps and in women’s prisons and domestic violence shelters,” Ms Penfold said. 

“The Parliament has a responsibility to provide clear legal protections for women and girls in Australian law. 

“This would ensure where there is a conflict, biological sex prevails.” 

Ms Penfold added the Federal Court’s recent ruling, that a women’s-only social media app, ‘Giggle for Girls’, shows that the current law created by the Gillard Labor Government in 2013 was not fit for purpose. 

“The Nationals will fix this, by supporting laws that define biological sex, man and woman, in the Sex Discrimination Act. 

“Sex is biological and binary and should not be ambiguous. The Bill will also include explicit protections for female services, spaces and activities. 

“This issue doesn’t just impact women, it also impacts men. Women and men’s groups have a right to feel safe and it is crucial we can live in a respectful society where that remains the case. 

“Parliament created the problem – so it’s up to Parliament to fix it.” 

For more information go to Protecting Women and Girls — Alison Penfold MP