Federal Member for Lyne, Alison Penfold, is set to introduce a private member’s bill seeking to redefine sex in Australian law as “biological and binary”, positioning herself at the forefront of a growing conservative pushback against transgender rights protections following the Federal Court’s landmark Giggle v Tickle ruling.
Ms Penfold confirmed she will introduce the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sex-Based Rights) Bill 2026 to Parliament as a private members bill next Monday 25 May. She said the legislation is needed to “restore commonsense and clarity” after a Federal Court appeal decision upheld findings that transgender woman Roxanne Tickle was unlawfully discriminated against when excluded from the Giggle for Girls app.
The proposed legislation would amend the Sex Discrimination Act to insert a biological definition of sex, restore legal definitions of “man” and “woman” removed during 2013 amendments, and explicitly protect female-only spaces including prisons, domestic violence shelters, sporting competitions and bathrooms.
The move places Ms Penfold alongside a broader conservative campaign emerging after the court ruling, with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, Nationals leader Matt Canavan and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson all publicly criticising the decision and calling for legislative changes.
Landmark case tests 2013 reforms
The original Giggle for Girls case was the first to test gender identity discrimination provisions introduced into the Sex Discrimination Act in 2013 under Julia Gillard.
Ms Tickle, who has lived as a woman since 2017 and has undergone gender-affirming surgery, successfully argued she was discriminated against after the app blocked her account following a manual review.
The court heard she initially gained access to the platform after submitting a selfie assessed by artificial intelligence software designed to distinguish between male and female facial appearance. The software used by the Giggle for Girls app was heavily criticised for its inaccuracy, particularly for failing to recognised women of colour as women.
In the original judgement, Justice Robert Bromwich found the app imposed a condition requiring users to “appear to be a cisgendered female”, disadvantaging transgender women.
The Federal Court’s full bench on Friday upheld the previous finding that now defunct Giggle for Girls app founder Sall Grover unlawfully discriminated against Ms Tickle by excluding her from the women-only networking platform and later refusing to reinstate her account.
The appeal court went further than the original ruling, finding there were two instances of direct discrimination and increasing damages awarded to Ms Tickle from $10,000 to $20,000 plus limited court costs.
In its judgement, the court said the case concerned the construction and application of the Sex Discrimination Act rather than broader political debates around gender identity.
“The desirability or otherwise of that law is not a matter open to this court to consider,” the judges wrote.
The judges also found some of Ms Grover’s conduct during the proceedings was “gratuitous, disrespectful and unnecessary”.
Outside court, Ms Tickle said she hoped the outcome would help transgender Australians feel accepted.
“I now look forward to getting on with the rest of my life in the community we all know and love,” she said.
“One that embraces freedom and equality for all women.”
Personal commitment for Penfold
Ms Penfold said the ruling demonstrated why legislative reform was needed.
“This Bill seeks to fix the ambiguity around ‘sex’ and ‘gender identity’ that the Parliament created in its 2013 amendments,” she said.
“This ambiguity is still allowing the courts to continue an injustice against women.”
Ms Penfold said the bill would “re-establish commonsense and protect women from a reformist judiciary”.
“So many of you have told me that you are tired of being told what you can’t say that you know to be true,” she said.
“That a man is a man and a woman is a woman. That sex is biological. That women’s rights (and men’s for that matter) should not have to disappear because the law became unclear.”
She said the bill would preserve protections for transgender Australians under discrimination law while clarifying legal definitions.
“It will make these changes but still provide transgender Australians with the full protection of the Sex Discrimination Act but in a more objective way,” she said.
Penfold denied that she was being put up to it by the party, telling Peta Credlin on Sky News that “it is an important issue in my community, and across Australia” and her “commitment on this goes back a number of years”.
Penfold praised Sall Grover, as well as local constituent and Director of anti-trans group Binary Australia Kiralee Smith, for their advocacy on “the simple fact: sex is biological and binary”.
She said the legislation reflected Nationals party policy driven by grassroots members.
“The Bill represents Nationals policy, driven by the views of party members in the Lyne electorate,” she said.
“As Chairman of the Lyne Nationals, we passed a motion to reinstate the biological definition of male and female.”
It is not clear if that policy was adopted nationally at the party’s federal conference. New England Times has sought confirmation from federal secretariat of the Nationals, and spoken to two conference delegates who cannot recall the issue being discussed last year.
Penfold said she had committed during her preselection campaign to introduce the legislation if elected, although conceded the bill will not pass.
“As a Private Members Bill, without Government support, it will not be carried through both Chambers of Parliament,” she said.
“But at the very least it will send a signal that Australians are not afraid to stand up for commonsense and clarity.”
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