An elected official who serves on the Hobart City Council is under investigation for “inciting hatred” over comments she made during a women’s rights rally. On March 21, Louise Elliot attended a Let Women Speak demonstration organized by Standing for Women and led by British women’s rights campaigner Kellie Jay-Keen. As part of a prepared speech she gave during the event, Elliot stated that it was impossible to change sex, that “trans women are trans women,” and “they remain biological men.”
On May 5, Elliot received a letter from the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner (ADC) informing her that they had received a complaint about her statements and had opened an investigation into her activities for “inciting hatred” under the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act.
The Anti-Discrimination Act, first passed in 1998, was amended in 2019 to include the subjective category of gender identity, but does not provide legal protections on the basis of biological sex.
The complainant, who cannot be named during the ongoing investigation, also took issue with a statement made by Elliot in the context of male violence and the defense of women-only spaces, wherein she stated, “You cannot be raped with a penis if there is no penis present.”
“While the majority of men are decent, kind, and caring people, men present an inherent danger to women. The vast majority of sex offenders and violence perpetrators are men. One in ten Australian women have experienced violence at the hands of a stranger. One in five Australian women have experienced sexual violence,” Elliot said at the rally.
“You can’t be raped with a penis if there is no penis present. You can’t be overpowered by men if there are no men present. You can’t feel uncomfortable undressing in front of a man if there is no man present. It is completely understandable that women would want female-only spaces, especially vulnerable areas like change rooms, toilets, and showers. It is absolute insanity that we have a law that allows a man at 10 AM to declare he’s a woman, and by 11 AM, showering and sharing change rooms with young girls.”
Speaking with Reduxx, Elliot explained that her statements were deemed as fitting the bill for potentially “inciting hatred,” as otherwise, the complaint would have been dropped.
“The Anti-Discrimination Commissioner agreed that this is potentially ‘inciting hatred’ and accepted the complaint and started investigating. They could have dismissed it and said I had done nothing wrong,” she said.
“I’ve got great legal support and we are fighting this. We are fighting the right for people to say the truth. To say facts. To say that trans women are still male, they cannot and have not changed their sex,” Elliot added.
“Our view is that this is an absurd overreach of the legislation. We all have a right to freedom of expression and laws can only go so far to restrict that.”
On August 1, Elliot shared an image of herself captioned: “Day 88 of ‘inciting hatred’ for saying transwomen remain male.” Subsequently, she received backlash from trans activists who insinuated she was deliberately making a reference to Nazism in her use of the number 88.
Former Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor accused Elliot of subtly “dog-whistling to fascists”. Speaking with The Mercury, Elliot called the accusations “ludicrous”.
“I had no idea of any significance of the number 88, let alone a Nazi association. It was literally just the number of days since I was notified,” she said. “I was categorically not signalling to Nazis and ludicrous for anyone people to think so.”
She added: “Eighty-eight is a number, that’s all. If people have issues with a number and are seeing things that aren’t there, then that’s more about them than me.”
Elliot’s case is the first of its kind in Australia and therefore the decision reached by the ADC will have the potential to set a precedent for future complaints regarding the sort of remarks that may be criminalized for “inciting hatred” in the nation.
In a similar case in Tasmania, Anti‑Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt ruled last year that woman-only events are discriminatory towards men who claim that they are women, on the basis of their self-declared “gender identity.” The ruling was in response to an application filed by lesbian women seeking to hold women-only events at a venue in Launceston.
Jessica Hoyle, a representative for LGB Tasmania, had sought the right to exclude males from lesbian-focused events on the basis of their biological sex. In her filing, Hoyle also pointed to the loss of single-sex spaces as an infringement of lesbian rights.
Nevertheless, the ADC refused Hoyle’s application in July. In her justification, Commissioner Bolt claimed “sex” was not a protected attribute, but gender identity was. “As I understand it, the exemption is sought to permit discrimination on the basis of sex, specifically against ‘biological men’. Sex is not a protected attribute.”
Earlier this year, Victorian MP Moira Deeming was suspended from the Liberal Party for nine months after taking part in a Let Women Speak event in Melbourne. The demonstration drew massive outcry after an unrelated group of men crashed the rally and performed a Nazi salute.
Opposition leader John Pesutto had moved to have Deeming expelled from the party entirely, despite Deeming and other women’s rights campaigners repeatedly denouncing the neo-Nazi protesters who turned up at their event.
In response, Deeming has issued a notice to Pesutto, warning that he risks a defamation suit unless he publicly retracts statements portraying her as a Nazi sympathizer. Despite attempts to tarnish her reputation, Deeming has received tremendous support from the public.
Reduxx is your source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% independent! Support our mission by joining our Patreon, or consider making a one-time donation.
