LGBTQ+ groups speak out following the NT Chief Minister’s transphobic comments announcing the Northern Territory’s ban on transgender women in female prisons.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s comments have been criticised as transphobic and a manufactured culture war.
This response comes following the announcement that NT offenders will be housed in custody facilities according to their gender assigned at birth.
“At the end of the day, if you’re born a bloke, you’re going to men’s prison and we’ll deal with you there,” Finnocchiaro said on Darwin radio station Mix 104.9.
Saying the Country Liberal Party has taken “a practical common sense” approach.
The CLP has said that it revised the previous Labor government’s “woke transgender prisoner policy, where self-declaration was enough” in October 2024.
And now there will be “a proper clarification process” where “if you’re born a gender, that is the prison you go in.”
The Chief Minister has come under criticism following further comments to the media.
“To make it really clear, if you are a man and you’re fundamentally equipped as a man, if I could put it that way, then you belong in a men’s prison.” she said.
View this post on Instagram
‘The national crisis is not the gender identity of inmates’
Finocchiaro’s comments follow a Women’s Forum Australia petition sent over the weekend to the prime minister and state and territory leaders.
The letter used information based on a transgender inmate in Victoria and stated that transgender women in female prisons present a safety risk for inmates assigned female at birth.
“Single-sex prisons exist to protect women’s dignity, privacy and safety,” the petition stated.
“Any solutions to male-on-male prison violence must be found within the men’s system, not at the expense of vulnerable women.”
Greens Senator and Justice Spokesperson David Shoebridge said Finocchiaro was manufacturing a culture war distraction while presiding over a correctional system in crisis.
“Aboriginal women are being imprisoned at unprecedented rates and held in sweltering, overcrowded conditions without any rehabilitation services,” Shoebridge said.
“That’s the national crisis, and it’s not the gender identity of inmates.”
“This is just more bigoted scapegoating from the NT Government while their prison system fails women they have put in jail every single day.
“This dangerous culture war being perpetrated by the NT Government is enabled by the Federal Government, which funds 71% of the NT prison system and is therefore directly implicated in this dangerous policy.”
The Greens highlighted that women prisoners in Alice Springs are being held in dangerous, overcrowded conditions without adequate facilities, legal privacy, or safety from male inmates.
And that the NT Government isn’t dealing with the problem they created, a prison system in an overcrowded crisis.
Instead, they have chosen to target one of the most marginalised groups in our community and attack trans women by putting them in crowded men’s prisons.
View this post on Instagram
‘The safety of all women is important, not just cis women’
LGBTQIA+ and trans allied groups have opposed any changes to current Correctional Services policies that protect transgender women, sistergirls, and people who are intersex in custody.
“The existing Management of Trans, Gender Diverse or Intersex Prisoners Policy is designed to support safe placement decisions,” said The Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council (NTAHC).
“However, implementation is limited by overcrowding and the lack of appropriate facilities for trans and gender diverse people.”
“These groups experience the highest rates of violence in custody, and reducing existing protections would increase that risk.
“Allegations of sexual assault should be addressed through established criminal justice processes.
“The focus must remain on preventing sexual violence and maintaining safe environments for all people in custody.
“NTAHC is committed to working with the Government to create environments where no one is at risk of sexual violence or discrimination.
“Respectful, inclusive policy protects all Territorians”
Vital Collective, an advocacy group for the sistergirl, brotherboy and LGBTIQAP+ community, told the ABC it was “horrified” by Finocchiaro’s comments.
“The chief minister implies that sistergirls and transgender women are somehow inherently more violent,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Such statements are inaccurate, harmful, and embolden anti-trans hatred.”
“The safety of all women is important, not just cis women.”
Stating that the CLP’s rhetoric would increase the risk of violence towards the gender-diverse community.
They have started a petition calling out the CLP government’s rolling back of anti-discrimination protections.
“We have an incredibly short time to table this petition,” they said online.
“Please sign and share far and wide; you don’t have to be in the NT to support this important cause.”
You can sign the petition here.
View this post on Instagram
‘Harmful comments in response to unverified events interstate’
Becky Tidman, Chair of Top End Pride, said, “Our transgender community deserves better.”
“Once again, our transgender community members are being targeted by ill-informed, offensive, and harmful comments.”
“The Chief Minister’s remarks do little to create a safer Territory, but instead isolate and target a vulnerable group.
“Once again, Top End Pride Inc. loudly calls out this poorly considered commentary and asks the Chief Minister to do better.
“The detention of transgender people is complex and requires expert forensic risk assessment and safety mitigation plans tailored to individual needs and service capacity.
“Throwing out ill-thought-out comments and tropes about transgender people may generate media attention, but it has no actual impact on community safety or the safety of people in prison.
“What these comments do achieve is immense psychological harm to our transgender community, and that is not okay.
“Trans women face higher rates of gender-based violence and have higher rates of victimhood, trauma, and abuse.
“Their lives and safety matter just as much as those of cisgender women and men.
“Making flippant and harmful comments in response to unverified events interstate ignores the unique communities of Sistergirls and Brotherboys in the Northern Territory and places lives at risk.”
For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, and community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Why is their a gender on Birth Certificates then?
Remove gender from Birth Certificates – because a doctor choosing and then DECLARING a persons gender is NOT a Legal basis for saying you must identify as what a doctor chooses to say and write a birth.
Plus what about intersex? if you are both with ‘2’ anatomies who is anyone to say or Determine?
Trans women are women!
If a person has had surgery and has full ‘female’ anatomy surly common sense would prevail and the mere through of saying they have to be in a men’s prison based of what a Doctor choose for the individual
How about helping Trans women to have access to be employment (get rid of Discrimination in workplaces) better access to housing, reduce the medical costs.
Support all Humans, treat all humans with care, safety and dignity
Also if the say or sight “women’s safety” to discriminate and put in harms way Trans prisoners, should not the same safety of trans people not be safety first and foremost including Emotional and Mental health safety.