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Premier Chris Minns has thrown his support behind a controversial bill introduced to parliament by the Independent Member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich. 

On Thursday evening, details began to emerge of an intention to push the Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023 through parliament by the end of this month. That the bill, tabled in NSW parliament by Greenwich in August of 2023, appeared to have suddenly become an urgent priority for the Minns Labor government, surprised many stakeholders who were not aware that debate would begin this week. 

If passed, the bill would – among other things – allow any person in NSW to change the sex on their birth certificate without any medical or psychological intervention and open the door to commercial surrogacy. 

Overwhelming “No”

On Friday morning, writing from Rome where he is participating in the Synod on Synodality, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP urged the faithful in NSW to once again reach out to local MPs and ask that they reject the bill. 

“From media reports this week, it appears that the NSW Parliament will begin debate on the so-called “equality” bill, a bill that – if passed – would see a number of significant changes to our laws that will have a direct impact on people of faith, as well as vulnerable women and children,” the archbishop wrote.  

The archbishop went on to note that the bill had already been overwhelmingly rejected by respondents to a parliamentary inquiry on the bill as well as signatories to an online petition. 

 “More than 13,000 people responded to the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the bill. Of those, more than 85% asked our MPs to reject it entirely.  

“Additionally, the largest online petition to ever be presented to the Legislative Council also asked for it to be voted down.”
 
Despite it being a private members’ bill, the archbishop highlighted the government’s role in keeping the bill alive.

Unlikely Allies

“Unfortunately, after hearing an overwhelming “no” from their constituents more than once, a full parliamentary inquiry and more than a year of being able to consider its damaging implications, the government refuses to oppose the bill.” 

By the weekend, Greenwich had announced that he would make a significant number of amendments to his bill in order to placate objectors. This included the removal of any changes to anti-discrimination law, as well as highly controversial proposals to allow children to access puberty blockers without parental consent and permit solicitation by prostitutes outside schools and churches. 

While Greenwich proposals meant that the most extreme aspects of the bill would be removed, several contentious items were set to remain.  

The most disputed of these is the push for sex self-identification, which is opposed not only by the faith communities but has brought together an otherwise-unlikely group of allies, including Women’s Forum Australia, the Feminist Legal Centre, Australian Feminists for Women’s Rights, the LGB Alliance, the Human Rights Law Alliance, Genspect Australia, the Australian Christian Lobby and Intersex Human Rights Australia. 

Notwithstanding the strong opposition, Premier Minns used a preschool opening in the southwestern suburb of Liverpool to affirm his support for the bill.  

“Alex Greenwich’s amended equality bill, I think, should pass the parliament. That’s what I’ll be recommending,” the Premier said. 

Archbishop Fisher has encouraged the faithful to make their opposition to the bill known by contacting their MP at contactyourmp.org.au. 

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Republished with thanks to The Catholic Weekly.