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A political brawl has erupted in the NSW Parliament over a bill allowing transgender people to change their birth certificates. The author of the legislation, Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, accused the Coalition of using the trans community as a “political football”.
A pared-back version of Greenwich’s Equality Bill will be debated in parliament today, after the Minns government agreed to support changes to the law that allow transgender people to update their birth certificates without the need for gender-affirming surgery.
Sydney MP Alex Greenwich.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
The change brings NSW into line with the other states, but has caused ruptures in the Coalition after MPs were denied a conscious vote on the policy. One Coalition member, North Shore MP Felicity Wilson, has said she will cross the floor to support the bill.
Greenwich on Wednesday took exception to criticisms made by the Coalition, and in particular, shadow attorney-general Alister Henskens, accusing him of using transgender people as a “political football” and of being wrong on several elements of the legislation.
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“The shadow attorney-general’s approach has been equal parts cruel and embarrassing,” he said.
Henskens has said the Coalition has not had proper time to consider the pared-back version of the bill, saying he received about 79 amendments on Saturday night. He accused Labor and Greenwich of rushing the bill through.
But Greenwich pointed out the legislation had first been introduced into parliament in the middle of last year, and said he had numerous discussions with Henskens about the legislation.
“I think it’s important that I put on the record my detailed consultation with the Coalition on the legislation. The bill was introduced over 12 months ago. I have spoken to both the shadow attorney-general, Alistair Henskens and the Leader of the Opposition, Mark Speakman, and dozens of members of the Coalition about the legislation,” he said.
Henskens has said he is concerned about the impact of the bill “upon the privacy of women’s spaces”.
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He has also said elements of the bill will remove penalties for coercing women into sex work, though both Greenwich and the government say those provisions are not in the legislation to be debated.
On Wednesday, Henskens held a press conference with a coalition of people, including Viviane Morrigan from the Coalition of Activist Lesbians, who is also a member of the Labor Party, and said her own party had ignored her concerns over the legislation.