Anthony Albanese has said Scott Morrison should focus on “doing his job” after the Prime Minister willingly waded into the culture wars on the first day of the 2022 election campaign.
During an interview blitz on Monday, the Prime Minister warned the education curriculum risked being “sold out to a left-wing agenda” and backed campaigns by two conservative female Liberal MPs to prohibit transgender women from competing in female sports.
After praising the two MPs for their views, Mr Morrison left the door open to legislating a ban on transgender people competing in women’s sports if he is returned to power on May 21.
“I’ll have more to say about that at another time,” he said.
The Opposition Leader on Tuesday said Mr Morrison was “always looking for division” when the role of someone campaigning to be the nation’s leader should look to unite the country
Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison seemed to be unaware the rules around transgender athletes entering competitions were already covered by the Sex Discrimination Act and regulated by sporting bodies.
Section 42 of the Act allows the “discrimination of people based on sex, gender identity or intersex status” by excluding them from competing in sports where “strength, stamina or physique of competitors is relevant”.
“This prime minister needs to do his day job. His day job is about things that he’s responsible for – not look for wedges and dividing Australia,” Mr Albanese told journalists in the Tasmanian town of Longford.
The nation’s major sporting organisations, including Netball Australia and Cricket xjmtzywAustralia, have introduced inclusivity policies for transgender and gender diverse people playing across their codes.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham on Tuesday morning said he didn’t want trans women excluded from playing female sports, but he could understand the “concerns” around it.
“What we have is that there are some sporting bodies or women’s sporting bodies who are keen to ensure the safety or integrity of their competitions. That should be respected as a genuine consideration on their part,” Mr Birmingham ABC radio.
“It’s equally important to ensure that the rights of individuals and the rights of individuals of different gender identities are also respected and considered.”
He said he was neither for nor against legislating on these “sensitive matters” but he would expect any laws to be explored “with sensitivity” through proper parliamentary committee processes.
Mr Morrison on Monday described Katherine Deves, a biological sex campaigner and his hand-picked candidate for the Sydney seat of Warringah, as “right on the money”.
Ms Deves co-founded the Save Women’s Sport lobby group, which pressures sports organisations to ban trans women – who identify with a different gender to the one they were thought to be at birth – from female sports and create a separate division for them.
Mr Morrison reiterated his support for Liberal senator Claire Chandler’s so-called “Save Women’s Sport” bill, which she introduced to Parliament in February amid debate over the Morrison government’s divisive religious freedoms legislation.
Senator Chandler’s private member’s bill seeks to further amend the Sex Discrimination Act to insert definitions of “man” and “woman” and provide a legal basis for excluding “persons of one sex from participation in any sporting activity intended for persons of a different sex”.
Equality Australia chief executive officer Anna Brown on Monday said politicians had nothing to gain by refusing to stand up for LGBTIQ+ people or using debate about their lives to score political points.
“Enough is enough. The political parties that wish to form government this coming election must commit to governing for all Australians,” she said.
“And to ensuring that every person in Australia can live their life, with dignity and respect, no matter who they are, or whom they love.”
