KEY POINTS
- Victorian Liberal MP has taken aim measures to include trans women in female-only change rooms and sport
- Her maiden speech drew criticism from state Greens leader Samantha Ratnam, and Premier Daniel Andrews
- Ms Deeming replaced outspoken politician Bernie Finn, who was expelled from the party.
A new Liberal MP has hit out at sex work regulations and opening female-only spaces to trans women as she took aim at the “extremes” of equality and unity.
Moira Deeming blasted measures to include trans women in female-only change rooms and sports, claiming “what most women would consider to be sexual harassment and indecent exposure is now legal in Victoria”.
She also sounded off over sex work regulations and called on the government to reinstate sex-based rights in the law.
“Surely there must be ways to ensure the safety and dignity of trans people which do not trample on the rights of women and girls,” Ms Deeming told the upper house on Tuesday.
The former teacher said she left the profession partly because she was concerned lessons in tolerance were shifted to lessons in inclusion, primary school students were subjected to “erotic sexual content” and concerns about single-sex sport teams.
“Perfectly reasonable moral and religious differences were being reframed as discriminatory and intolerant, and a new vocabulary was introduced categorising people as allies or enemies,” she said.
Shadow treasurer Brad Rowswell said he had not heard the speech but new parliamentarians were free to speak about what motivated and drove them in their inaugural speech.
“The colleague did that yesterday and she’s entitled to do so, so long as her views are expressed respectfully,” he told reporters at parliament on Wednesday.
State Greens leader Samantha Ratnam, who was in the upper house chamber at the time, said there was nothing respectful about Ms Deeming’s speech.
“It is using some of the most vulnerable Victorians as targets for these ideological wars,” she said.
“It has no place in Victoria. It has no place in the Victorian parliament.”
Premier Daniel Andrews scorned Ms Deeming for pushing an agenda that he said didn’t meet community expectations.
“We are an inclusive, harmonious, respectful place where equality is a non-negotiable. That’s always been my view. It’s always been our policy,” he said.
“I’m just not here to talk about that member of parliament and essentially give her what she wants.”
Ms Deeming replaced outspoken politician Bernie Finn, who was expelled from the party after calling for abortion services to be banned and did not support the procedure even for rape survivors.
“I believe in freedom from compelled speech,” Ms Deeming said in her inaugural speech.
“The freedom to travel outside my own suburb, the freedom to meet and embrace my family members and the freedom to accept or refuse medical treatment.
“These freedoms are under threat today, and as these last few years have proven.”
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