Surrogacy is not 'fertility support': Our evidence to the NSW inquiry

Emma and Nerissa examine the 2019 sports inclusion guidelines that clubs running female-only competition still rely on, and the questions put to the Minister for Sport at the National Press Club on 15 October. They look at how the guidelines place participation based on affirmed gender identity first and treat female-only categories under section 42 of the Sex Discrimination Act as an exception framed around excluding an individual, and at why they can find no published assessment seven years after launch. They also cover the reports that some clubs fear discrimination claims, and what an independent, published review that consults women's groups would need to establish. __ Donate If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to: Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances Account number: 04201471 BSB: 325-185 __ Disclosure statement Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

Women’s protection should survive a portfolio change. At the National Press Club, Anika Wells argued that institutions must take responsibility for preventing online harm and recognised that online environments are particularly unsafe for women. But how did that principle carry across when she was questioned as Minister for Sport? Emma and Megan examine the Minister’s response to concerns about Australian Sports Commission guidance on female-only competition. Featuring audio from the address and the exchange, this episode considers what clearer guidance could offer grassroots clubs — and why women’s protection deserves consistent consideration across ministerial portfolios. __ Donate If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to: Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances Account number: 04201471 BSB: 325-185 __ Disclosure statement Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

The Hon Michelle Hofmann MLC, member of the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Western Australia, speaks to Amber from The Women's Advocate about Ms Hofmann's fight against the Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Bill. Ms Hofmann reflects on her first major battle as a newly elected MLC, her concerns about provisions lowering the minimum surrogate age from 25 to 18 and scrapping the requirement that a surrogate have already given birth, and the failed push to send the Bill to committee. She also discusses the narrow, one-vote losses on cross-party amendments, her disappointment at the muted media and public response to legislation that will reshape surrogacy in Western Australia, and her advice for other parliamentarians in other jurisdictions holding strong concerns but lacking the numbers to stop a bill they believe fails to protect women. Donate If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to: Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances Account number: 04201471 BSB: 325-185

In this episode, Emma and Lucy discuss AAWAA's submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on its draft General Comment on freedom of association. They cover why women's associations depend on organising around biological sex rather than a generic identity category, the gap in the draft's membership test that leaves sex-based criteria exposed to being labelled discriminatory, and the risk that ordinary advocacy for sex-based protections gets read as hostile discourse. They close with the Lesbian Action Group and Giggle v Tickle cases, two Australian rulings that show what happens when the law has no settled basis for recognising this right, and the narrow, specific fixes AAWAA has asked the Committee to make. __ Donate If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to: Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances Account number: 04201471 BSB: 325-185 __ Disclosure statement Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

In this episode, Emma and Lucy discuss two recent submissions on family violence, one to the Tasmanian Government, one to the federal Second Action Plan consultation, both built on the same argument: sex-neutral language like "people who use violence" obscures who is harmed and who does the harm. They cover misidentification of women as perpetrators, the case for female-only refuges and crisis services, and why official communications avoid naming men as responsible, before looking at the one place the submissions take different approaches, and why that reflects two levers of government rather than a real disagreement. __ Donate If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to: Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances Account number: 04201471 BSB: 325-185 __ Disclosure statement Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.