Western Australia’s Attorney General John Quigley says the government’s passage of the Births, Deaths, Marriages Registration Amendment (Sex or Gender Changes) Bill 2024 shows its ongoing commitment to equality.
The bill passed the parliament today after being approved by the Legislative Council last week. Due to several amendments the bill had to return to the Legislative Assembly before it could progress to the Governor for royal assent.
“The passage of these reforms reinforces the State Government’s commitment to equality for all Western Australians and our broader reform agenda supporting diversity and inclusion.” Attorney General John Quigley said.
“They represent a significant step forward for gender recognition in Western Australia and towards a more respectful and inclusive approach to gender diversity.
“It means that the Gender Reassignment Board will be abolished and a new administrative application process implemented for people seeking to change their sex or gender on their birth certificate.
“The new process will come into operation on proclamation to allow time for the implementation of these reforms, which we anticipate will be in six months’ time.
“The period will allow for outstanding applications to the Gender Reassignment Board to be finalised, and any applications to the board that remain outstanding when the new act commences will be transitioned over to the new system, if that is what the applicant chooses.
“The State Government remains 100 per cent committed to new equal opportunity legislation and we will continue to engage with stakeholders in relation to this important reform.” the Attorney-General said.
The new laws mean Transgender and gender-diverse Western Australians will no longer be required to undergo medical or surgical reassignment to formally register a change of sex or gender.
While the requirement for surgical treatment had effectively been nullified by a 2011 High Court decision, Western Australia still followed an outdated process that required people to have some level of medical treatment and make a submission to the Gender Reassignment Board.
The new laws mean that a new streamlined administrative process for sex and gender recognition through the Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages will now be implemented, and the Gender Reassignment Board will be abolished.
The changes were recommended by the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia in its 2018 report Review of Western Australian legislation in relation to the registration or change of a person’s sex and/or gender and status relating to sex characteristics.
Calls for the government of the day to take action however go back over a decade, the board itself has publicly questioned its relevance in its annual reports and the former Barnett Liberal government had made a commitment to remove it, as did Labor back in 2017.
Under the new regime the evidence required to support an application will be a statement from a medical practitioner or psychologist certifying the person has undergone appropriate clinical treatment, which may include counselling. A similar test is used by the Commonwealth, in relation to recording sex or gender on Australian passports, and in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Some LGBTIQA+ rights activists have expressed disappointment that the legislation was not similar to laws introduced in Victoria which do not require any medical consultation.
As part of the reform, consistent with the Law Reform Commission’s recommendations and several other jurisdictions, the sex descriptor of ‘non-binary’ will be available for Western Australians, in addition to ‘male’ and ‘female’.
Stricter rules apply in respect to people under the age of 18, including parental consent or permission from the Family Court of Western Australia in certain circumstances.
The reform does not change the existing procedures that relate to the registration of sex on a birth certificate when a child is born. While the Law Reform Commission’s report did recommend removing sex from birth certificates completely, the government quickly ruled this out.
The Bill also contains a statutory review clause, ensuring the community can provide feedback on the operation and effectiveness of the regime after three years.
TransFolk of WA say the passage of the bill ends years of uncertainty
TransFolk of WA, an organisation that exists to inform, empower, and advocate for trans and gender diverse people in WA so they can survive and thrive, as welcome the passage of the legislation.
They say the passage of this bill through the Legislative Council last week ended years of uncertainty and weeks of toxic debate.
“This debate has impacted the wellbeing of members of the trans community and we therefore welcome that, having passed the Council, this Bill will proceed to become law without significant further debate.” they said in a statement to OUTinPerth.
“We are pleased that non-binary people will now have an option to choose a more appropriate gender designator. This will improve the lives of many trans and gender diverse people in Western Australia.
“For those in our community who will avoid the cruelty of the Gender Reassignment Board process, we welcome this reform and are grateful that they will be spared from this suffering.
TransFolk said they recognised that the bill is not entirely in line with calls from our community, and that the consultation process around this legislation had not met their expectations.
“We will continue to advocate for best practice legislation in WA. There were amendments to this Bill proposed that would have brought the legislation closer to best practice, and we regret that these were not taken up by the Government.” a spokesperson said.
They shared that they have received confirmation from the Attorney General that the Department of Justice will consult with their community and the Intersex community on the gender designations to be
included in the regulations to accompany the reforms.
“We hope that this process will involve quality consultation and will see the regulations best meeting the needs of our communities.
“We are also pleased to have received confirmation that ‘appropriate treatment’ under this Bill includes “no treatment”, and that the Regulations will reflect this. We will advocate strongly to ensure that the Regulations reflect the needs of our community.” they said.
