New laws allowing trans and gender-diverse Western Australians to update the sex or gender on their birth certificates without surgery came into effect on May 30.
The ‘Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment (Sex or Gender Changes) Act 2024’ allows applications with a statement from a doctor or psychologist.
It also introduces a non-binary option and removes the Gender Reassignment Board.
Attorney General Tony Buti said the changes will help promote equality and dignity.
“The State Government introduced these reforms to adopt a more respectful and inclusive approach to gender diversity and ensure equality for all Western Australians,” he said.
“We were able to remove outdated barriers that denied people identity documents that aligned with their lived identity.”
But former Australian Christian Lobby WA director and Gosnells councillor Peter Abetz described the law as “fraud.”
“To issue a biological male with a birth certificate that states they are female (or vice versa) is in my view nothing short of fraud,” he said.
“The legislation even allows a person to change the sex on their birth certificate every 12 months. It effectively makes birth certificates a worthless document that cannot be relied upon to provide factual information.”
Mr Abetz said federal law has allowed self-identification since 2013, meaning the WA changes will have limited impact on access to gendered spaces.
“A man has not needed any document to allow him to enter female spaces. All he needs to do is to self-identify as a woman,” he said.
He said he also rejected the non-binary category, calling it “a scientific nonsense,” and raised concerns about parental rights.
“The child (if it is between 12–18) can apply directly to the Family Court, and that court can override the wishes of both parents.”
He also questioned how widely the Government had consulted before introducing the law.
“As stated in the media release the WA Government only consulted the LGBTQ+ activist movements and some health professionals. They did not consult the growing number of detransitioners, nor any conservative community groups.”
The Australian Christian Lobby also pointed to a recent Family Court ruling that criticised national gender treatment guidelines.
“The judge found [Professor Michelle Telfer’s] evidence to the court misleading and raised serious concerns about the integrity of the guidelines she authored,” the group said.
“The judge was clear: judicial decisions must be grounded in evidence, not ideology.”
