Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of Senator Henderson's referral of this matter, this evening. Anywhere else in the world in 2025 a woman fighting to defend her right to a single-sex space would be front-page news. This isn't theoretical or hypothetical. In April, the UK supreme court heard the For Women Scotland case and confirmed that the UK's Equality Act 2010 does protect women's rights to their own spaces and services. It was all over the news and the media in the United Kingdom. Yet, here in Australia, if you relied on our taxpayer funded national broadcaster, you would have no idea that we are facing our own landmark test case here.

Roxanne Tickle v Giggle for Girls Pty Ltd & Anor will shape the future of women's rights in this country, but you wouldn't know it from the ABC's coverage. The Tickle v Giggle case has seen Australian entrepreneur Sal Grover taken to the court to defend her right to operate her online platform Giggle for Girls to the exclusion of males. While the Australian and Sky News have reported on this case extensively, the ABC has barely touched it. Even its own watchdog, Media Watch, has conceded that there are gaps in Aunty's reporting. That isn't journalism. That's just selective reporting, and it's not good enough.

When the ABC chooses silence, Australians are denied the truth, and it is a disgrace that this is happening from our national broadcaster. The Tickle v Giggle case isn't about personalities or politics. It's about whether women can have spaces exclusively for women, spaces that are safe and fair and free from compromise. It is about rights, it is about fairness and it is about safety. When our national broadcaster ignores that, it fails in its duty under its charter to inform Australians impartially.

Let's not pretend that this biased reporting is new. In 2022, I lodged a complaint about an ABC article titled 'Trans women's participation in sport has been framed as an election issue. This is what some trans athletes think'. The ABC's own review of that article found it to be materially misleading. The then chair of the ABC, Ita Buttrose, in correspondence to me, admitted serious editorial lapses had occurred in relation to the article and called them regrettable. Those aren't my words. They are Ms Buttrose's. Yet, three years later, the ABC still refuses to even touch this subject, let alone provide balanced coverage. Why? Because, when the facts clash with ideology, silence becomes the strategy.

Australians deserve better. The ABC is funded by taxpayers. It is not a private blog site. It is a public institution with obligations—obligations to report impartially, to cover all sides and to trust the public to make up its own mind. When the ABC fails to do this, it erodes trust, not only in the institution of the ABC itself but in the entire media ecosystem. Tickle v Giggle isn't a fringe issue; it is a test case for whether women's rights still matter in Australia. If women cannot have spaces of their own, whether it's in sport, online, in shelters or in prisons, then where does that leave the rights of women in Australia? These aren't abstract debates. These are debates about acknowledging biological reality and the rights that flow from that. Women have fought for decades to secure spaces where they can compete fairly, recover safely and connect freely. Those rights should not be erased quietly because a broadcaster finds the conversation uncomfortable or because its agenda is being manipulated by a lobbyist group.

I call on the ABC to do its job. Cover the case of Tickle v Giggle. Ask the hard questions. Interview both sides. Let Australians hear the arguments and make up their own minds. That is what journalism is supposed to be. Anything less is advocacy by omission. This parliament shouldn't stand by while taxpayer funded media is picking winners and losers in important debates. We cannot allow silence to become censorship. Women's rights aren't negotiable. They're not a trend. They are a cornerstone of fairness in our society. So I say this: Australians deserve the truth. They deserve coverage that is balanced, fearless and complete. They deserve a national broadcaster that respects its charter, not one that hides behind ideology. Tickle v Giggle matters. Women's rights matter. It's time the ABC started treating them that way.