The government has responded to Liberal leader Angus Taylor after he vowed to redesign Australia’s sex discrimination laws following an appeal case in the Full Court.
On Friday, the Full Court of the Federal Court ruled in favour of transgender woman Roxanne Tickle, finding female-only app founder Sall Grover directly discriminated against her when she chose to remove Ms Tickle from the networking app Giggle for Girls.
Ms Grover had brought an appeal to the court in 2025 following a ruling in the Federal Court the year prior which found she had indirectly discriminated against Ms Tickle and ordered she pay $10,000 in damages.
The Full Court set aside the original ruling, instead finding Ms Grover had directly discriminated against Ms Tickle on two occasions and ordered she now pay double the damages, increasing her dues to $20,000.
Ms Tickle was originally given access to the app after an AI software test designed to filter out male users cleared her.
However, Ms Grover personally removed her after seeing her profile in 2021.
On Saturday morning, Mr Taylor posted a statement to Facebook, claiming it would be his “first-term priority” to change existing sex discrimination laws.
“Yesterday the Full Federal Court confirmed that Australian law does not properly protect single sex spaces for women and girls,” he wrote.
“Most Australians would find that hard to believe. A coalition government I lead will fix this.
“We will amend the Sex Discrimination Act to ensure that women and girls (and men and boys) have protections based on biological sex.
“We will define biological sex in the act. Male or female. The sex you are born. And we will protect single-sex spaces across Australian life.”
Mr Taylor claimed the promise was not targeting transgender Australians.
“This is not radical. It is common sense,” he said.
“Let me be clear about what this is not. This is not about targeting transgender Australians.
“Every protection they currently have remains. We are not removing a single protection from anyone. But we are recognising something that should never have been in doubt: biological sex is real, it matters, and women and girls deserve spaces where it is respected.
“The Prime Minister now has a simple question to answer. Does he believe women and girls deserve protections based on biological sex?”
When asked by NewsCorp Australia to clarify why he deemed it important to distinguish biological sex in the Sex Discrimination Act, Mr Taylor referred to his previous statement.
The Liberal leader also refused to comment on how the promised change would impact transgender Australians who experience mental health issues and suicidal thoughts at significantly higher rates than cis-gendered Australians.
The National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2020-22, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, found 28.5 per cent of transgender Australians had experienced suicidal thoughts in their lifetimes, compared with 16.5 per cent of cis-gender Australians.
A spokesperson for the Albanese government said they were aware of the court ruling.
“The government believes all people are entitled to respect, dignity and the opportunity to participate in society, free from discrimination,” the spokesperson said.
“Four days after a reforming budget focused on cost of living, housing and Medicare the Liberals are choosing to demonise migrants and focus on this matter.”
Nationals leader Senator Matt Canavan said, in a statement, the party would move to change existing laws.
“The current law effectively prevents women and girls from having their own single sex spaces,” Senator Canavan said.
“The Nationals will fix this by supporting laws that define two biological genders, male and female, in the Sex Discrimination Act.”
The court ruling has drawn both praise and criticism from politicians and advocacy groups alike.
The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomed the decision, with president Hugh de Krester stating many people still faced discrimination.
“We welcome the Federal Court’s interpretation of this protection in its decision,” he said following the verdict on Friday.
Equality Australia legal director Heather Corkhill said on Friday the decision affirmed the “reality and existence” of transgender Australians.
“This ruling affirms that all women deserve to live free from discrimination, without being judged on appearance, presentation or perceptions,” she said.
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson posted to social media on Friday, stating she was “disgusted” by the ruling and promising to “back” Ms Grover in parliament.
