The ‘Save Women’s Sports’ Bill is seeking to ban Trans athletes from single-sex sports by amending Australia’s Sex Discrimination act. Essentially, the bill means that no legal action can be taken against women’s sports clubs for excluding Trans persons.

The new legislation was proposed by Senator Claire Chandler and backed by Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister.

“I support it, I think it is a terrific bill and I’ve given her great encouragement,” Prime Minister Morrison said of Senator Chandler’s proposal. “Claire is a champion for women’s sport and I think she has been right to raise these issues in the way that she has.”

The bill claims to “reduce the risk of injury and unfair competition” in sports, with particular emphasis on contact sports. However, Equality Australia deems the bill “divisive and unnecessary” and said that the bill is seeking to solve a problem that does not exist.

Equality Australia’s Charlie Burton told Guardian Australia that the bill would strip Trans people of their “right to live as we are, casting us into an unequal, uncertain and unsafe status in the eyes of the law.”

He went on to say, “We reject attempts to sow fear and division about policies that have worked well and have made Tasmania a better place for everyone.”

In fact, Tasmanian sporting authorities have been reaching out to Equality Australia for advice on how to boost inclusivity and in 2019, Sport Australia made national recommendations that sports clubs should categorise sport based on gender identity rather than biological sex.

The Bill’s explanatory memorandum states:

“The primary policy intent of the Bill is to acknowledge that categorisation by sex is a necessary and important mechanism to provide sporting participation and competitive opportunities for females.

“It seeks to ensure that women’s single-sex sport is protected and encouraged, and that a male person is not entitled to demand inclusion into women’s sport on the basis of gender identity.”

Earlier this month, a religious discrimination bill that would have allowed religious schools to exclude Transgender students, was dropped from debate following the controversy around Citipointe Christian College’s enrollment process.