RHSA has decided to join over 150 organisations and individuals in endorsing the Human Rights Act for SA campaign and encourages others to do so and promote it through your networks. The incident below underlines the need for Human Rights Acts at both state and federal levels.
On Thursday 31 July 2025 Liberal Senator Alex Antic and Nationals Senator Matt Canavan were unceremoniously humiliated when their attempt to introduce a Bill to amend the Sex Discrimination Act (1984) for related purposes was blocked at the first reading stage.
Blocking a bill at the first reading stage is indeed a rare occurrence and is certainly the first bill to be blocked in this manner during this Parliament, leading to a feisty debate from all sides as the motion was not only dismissed, but also scratched from the list of bills of the day, available for public viewing on the Parliament of Australian website.
The Australian Sex Discrimination Act states that it is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of age, disability, race, sex, intersex status, gender identity, and sexual orientation and it would be reasonable to assume that adding to the list, to prevent discrimination, would be what most Australians would expect from their elected representatives, not trying to remove protections to actively enable discrimination.
Senators Antic and Canavan wanted to remove the term ‘gender identity’ from the Act as it currently prevents and is an ongoing stumbling block for religious fundamentalists, far-right extremists and trans exclusionary gender critical organisations from actively pursuing an agenda to discriminate against Trans people in Australia.
Opposing the bill in a strenuous manner, Senator Nick McKim from the Australian Greens and Labor’s Katy Gallagher fired back that the Senate was not the place where parliamentary privilege would be allowed to create a platform for transphobic members of society to punch down on Trans people causing harm and hurt.
“Trans rights are human rights, Trans people and Trans kids deserve our love and support and they deserve us to stand up and defend their rights to exist.” Senator McKim
“We do not agree with the Senate being a place where individual harm can be done.” Senator Gallagher
The decision to block the Bill’s first reading was upheld, and split down party lines with the Greens and progressive independents siding with the Government to quash the bigotry, leaving the Liberal-National Coalition and One Nation defeated and humiliated in their pursuit of creating a platform for harm and hurt.
