Premier Jeremy Rockliff has confirmed Tasmania’s anti-discrimination laws will stay as they are, amid a national debate over biological sex and gender identity.
Women Speak Tasmania has been asking MPs to sign a pledge supporting two changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998.
The group wants biological sex added as a protected attribute, along with the right to maintain single-sex services, spaces and sports.
The act currently protects “gender” and “gender identity”, but does not list sex separately.
Women Speak Tasmania says it is “not asking to weaken the act” but to strengthen it by “adding ‘sex’ (biological male or female) as an explicit protected attribute”.
The group notes that most Australian jurisdictions, as well as the federal Sex Discrimination Act 1984, explicitly protect sex.
It says its pledge seeks “mainstream, evidence-based positions” alongside existing gender identity protections.
Independent Clark MP Kristie Johnston raised the issue in parliament this week.
Johnston asked Rockliff whether he would reaffirm support for the current act and stand with transgender and gender-diverse people.
“We stand with all Tasmanians, irrespective of circumstance or background,” Rockliff told the chamber.
“We have no plans to change the anti-discrimination laws.”
Johnston welcomed the response, describing the proposed changes as a “radical change from decades of inclusive practice in Tasmania”.
She said the campaign flew “in the face of strong support for inclusion by Tasmania’s women’s service providers and community sporting organisations”.
Equality Tasmania spokesperson Rodney Croome also backed the premier, saying the current law had worked for almost 30 years.
“Prohibiting discrimination on the narrow ground of biological sex would provide less protection for women and girls than the current ground of gender, so we oppose it,” Croome said.
The Tasmanian campaign has previously drawn federal support.
In September 2025, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson signed the Women Speak Tasmania pledge and committed to introducing a Senate amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act.
Federal opposition leader Angus Taylor announced last week that amending the Sex Discrimination Act to define biological sex would be a first-term Coalition priority if elected.
“This is not radical. It is common sense,” Taylor said.
“Let me be clear about what this is not. This is not about targeting transgender Australians. Every protection they currently have remains.”
“We are not removing a single protection from anyone. But we are recognising something that should never have been in doubt – biological sex is real, it matters and women and girls deserve spaces where it is respected.”
