Tag: Australia
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Digital Duty of Care: Submission on the Online Safety Amendment Bill 2026
Women Speak Australia (WSA) has made a submission on the Australian Government’s Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 exposure draft. The proposed legislation would introduce a preventative digital duty of care, requiring online services to identify and manage reasonably foreseeable risks of harm arising from online content, design features and systems. WSA…
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Gender Dysphoria in Children: Where Australia Stands Before the NHMRC Review
A national situationer before NHMRC interim advice on puberty suppression Australia is approaching an important point in the national debate about the clinical treatment of children and adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria. In January 2025, the Australian Government asked the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to develop new national clinical practice guidelines for the…
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High Court Brings Giggle v Tickle Litigation to an End
The long-running legal dispute between Giggle for Girls founder Sall Grover and Roxanne Tickle has now reached its conclusion, with the High Court of Australia refusing special leave to appeal the Full Court of the Federal Court’s May 2026 decision. On 10 September 2026, the High Court refused the application, with costs. The refusal means…
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From Conference to Declaration: A National Call to Abolish Surrogacy
On 21–22 August, women’s rights advocates, people with lived experience, researchers, legal and human-rights contributors and others gathered in Melbourne for the national conference In the Name of the Child: The Perils of Surrogate Motherhood for Mother and Baby. The conference was organised by ARMS — Association Representing Mothers Separated by Adoption — and brought…
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Women’s Sport in Australia: One Category, Different Rules
Women’s sport in Australia is increasingly governed by different rules about who is eligible to compete in the female category. At Olympic level, the International Olympic Committee has now adopted a policy restricting participation in the female category at the Olympic Games and other IOC events to biological females, with eligibility determined through a one-time…
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Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) — An Analysis
Introduction The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) was enacted to address discrimination on the ground of sex. It gave effect to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and promoted “the principle of the equality of men and women.” That object only works if men and women can be identified.…
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Women’s Prisons Were Built for a Sex Class. Who Enters Them Is Now a State Policy Choice.
Australia has no Commonwealth statute that says who may be housed in a women’s prison. That is how the country is built. States and territories run adult corrections. Section 120 of the Constitution requires each state to hold people convicted of Commonwealth offences in its prisons. There is no separate federal civilian prison system. A…
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In the Name of the Child: Melbourne Conference Examines the Harms of Surrogacy
On 21–22 August 2026, the Association Representing Mothers Separated by Adoption (ARMS) hosted a two-day national conference, In the Name of the Child: The Perils of Surrogate Motherhood for Mother and Baby, at the Greg Craven Centre, Australian Catholic University, in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Women Speak Australia attended the conference, which brought together Australian and international…
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Surrogacy in Australia: If It Requires So Many Safeguards, Should We Be Regulating It or Ending It?
Surrogacy is legal in every Australian state and territory, yet Australia has no single national surrogacy law. Instead, it is regulated primarily through separate state and territory legislation. There is one broad point of agreement: commercial surrogacy is prohibited across Australia, while altruistic surrogacy is permitted. In an altruistic arrangement, a surrogate may have certain…
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eSafety Commissioner Issues Removal Notice to X Over Genevieve Gluck Article: What Does the Online Safety Act Require?
On 4 August 2026, the Australian eSafety Commissioner issued a formal removal notice to X concerning a post that linked to a 2024 Substack article by US-based writer Genevieve Gluck. The article, published on 31 October 2024 on her Women’s Voices Substack, examined publicly available online material posted by an employee of the Australian Medical…