The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) has won its appeal against a decision that found it had discriminated against a man by denying him entry to its women-only ‘Ladies Lounge’.
The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal previously ruled that MONA’s refusal to admit Jason Lau, a man from New South Wales, into the lounge in April 2023 was unlawful.
MONA restricts access to the lounge to those who identify as female and excludes others who are male or identify as male.
Lau found this discriminatory after his visit to the museum, which cost him $35, prompting him to lodge a complaint with Equal Opportunity Tasmania.
However, the Supreme Court has now thrown out the Tribunal’s decision, finding that it contained “several errors of fact and law”.
On Friday, Acting Justice Shane Marshall said the Tribunal mischaracterised what the Ladies Lounge was designed to promote and how that was intended to be achieved.
“The central idea … was that the Ladies Lounge was something designed to promote equal opportunity by providing an experience for women which could challenge societal gender bias, which still exists,” he wrote.
“In that way, the Ladies Lounge can be seen as an arrangement to promote equal opportunity by highlighting the lack of equal opportunity, which generally prevails in society, by providing women with a rare glimpse of what it is like to be advantaged rather than disadvantaged by the refusal of entry to the Ladies Lounge by men.”
Lounge creator Kirsha Kaechele said the win in the Supreme Court was a win for women and that she hopes to reveal plans for the lounge soon.
Marshall sent the case back to the Tribunal for reconsideration.
“The decision of the Tribunal dated 9 April 2024 is quashed,” he wrote.
