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The Australian Greens will today be introducing legislation to establish Australia’s first dedicated LGBTIQA+ Human Rights Commissioner, in what advocates are calling a long-overdue step towards ensuring our community has representation as every other group covered by Commonwealth anti-discrimination law.

The bill, which 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø understands will be tabled this afternoon (Jun 30), aims to create a dedicated LGBTIQA+ Commissioner within the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) focused solely on the rights of 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ people. It would also update outdated references to “intersex status” in the Sex Discrimination Act with the more inclusive phrasing, “innate variations of sex characteristics”.

Speaking exclusively to 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø, Greens 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ spokesperson Senator Nick McKim explained that if passed, the role would fill a gap that has existed since sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status were added as protected attributes under federal anti-discrimination law in 2013.

“Every other group protected under Commonwealth anti-discrimination law has a dedicated Commissioner,” McKim told 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø.

“LGBTIQA+ Australians don’t, and they should.”

“For more than a decade, community organisations, legal experts and advocates have called for this reform. The Greens are turning that consensus into action. This reform is ready to go. It should not be buried in another inquiry.”

The move comes at a time when 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ Australians continue to face a rise in hate crimesÌý²¹²Ô»å anti-17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ rhetoric. This includes  coordinated political campaigns targeting queer and trans communities, workplace harassment, abuse in public, online hate, dating app entrapment that led to violent assaults, attempts to remove 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ books from libraries, protests against drag story time events and youth inclusion programs, and more.

For McKim, that makes the timing all the more important.

“When discrimination and hate are increasing, you respond by fighting back and strengthening the institutions that defend people’s rights,” he said.

“Visibility matters. Representation matters. Having a dedicated Commissioner tells LGBTIQA+ Australians that their rights deserve to be defended with the same seriousness as everyone else’s.”

17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ Commissioner role would fill a longstanding gap

Australia’s Human Rights Commission currently has dedicated commissioners for race, sex, age, disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, children, and broader human rights. 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ people remain the only group specifically protected under Commonwealth discrimination law without their own Commissioner.

McKim said the new role would ensure queer communities are no longer treated as an afterthought.

“At a basic level, their job would be to make sure LGBTIQA+ Australians aren’t overlooked when it comes to human rights.

“They would promote the legislated human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, and asexual (LGBTIQA+) people in Australia regarding sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.

“That means speaking up for the community, helping shape better laws, calling out discrimination when it happens, and making sure governments are actually held to account.”

The Commissioner would also educate the public, intervene in significant legal cases where appropriate, and provide specialist advice to government and Parliament.

McKim was also quick to acknowledge the work already being done by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Dr Anna Cody.

“Dr Anna Cody, as part of her role as Sex Discrimination Commissioner has been a fabulous advocate for LGBTIQA+ people, but this Bill will provide for a role whose sole remit and resourcing is for LGBTIQA+ matters.”

Community advocates welcome the move

17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ advocacy organisation Just.Equal Australia, which has campaigned for an LGBTIQA+ Commissioner for several years, has thrown its support behind the bill.

“Just.Equal Australia has been campaigning for an LGBTIQA+ Discrimination Commissioner for many years so we’re very happy Nick McKim and the Greens have taken the important step of introducing a bill,” Just.Equal spokesperson Rodney Croome told 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø.

Croome said the absence of a dedicated Commissioner for the 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ community sends the wrong message.

“Given there are already commissioners for race, sex, age, children, Indigenous people, people with disability, the absence of an LGBTIQA+ Discrimination Commissioner sends the message that discrimination against us matters less.”

Croome said Just.Equal would now begin lobbying for all parties and independents to support the legislation.

A paper from Just.Equal argues a dedicated Commissioner would bring specialist expertise, increase confidence among people seeking to make discrimination complaints, and ensure 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ issues receive consistent attention from the Commission.

Like McKim, Croome praised the LGBTIQA+ advocacy of Dr Anna Cody, but said she is “effectively a part-time advocate” for 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ people because of her portfolio is spread across so many issues. The paper noted there were no public AHRC statements on 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ issues between October 2021 and April 2023, which highlighs the lack of focus on the queer community, and proves the need for a dedicated Commissioner.

Just.Equal also noted that the Labor Party pledged before the 2016 federal election to appoint an LGBTIQA+ Commissioner, but has never implemented the proposal. In 2022, it also committed to updating references in the Sex Discrimination Act from “intersex status” to “innate variations of sex characteristics”, following similar reforms to the Fair Work Act, but that change is also yet to be made.

Whether the Greens’ bill secures enough support to pass Parliament remains to be seen. But for advocates who have spent years pushing for the reform, the introduction of this Bill marks the closest Australia has come to giving our community a dedicated national human rights champion.

“At a time when there is a rise in anti-LGBTIQA+ discrimination and hate it is more important than ever for there to be a Commissioner who has the time, resources and expertise to defend our human rights,” said Croome.