I am deeply proud of my member for Lynne, Alison Penfold MP.

This is her first term as a Nationals MP and she has wasted no time in taking action to protect women’s sex based rights.

The Coalition has had years, and warning after warning, that if they don’t act, women’s sex based rights would be erased. They have mostly remained silent since Binary began campaigning almost a decade ago. Notable exceptions of course have been Senator Claire Chandler and Senator Alex Antic who have both tried countless times to introduce bills into the Senate.

Since the disastrous Federal Court ruling last week that any man who says he is a woman can be legally protected as a woman, the Coalition as a whole have committed to re-writing the Sex Discrimination Act if elected to govern. Laws that defy natural laws cannot stand.

Before all this, in her first term, Alison worked with Michelle Pearce from ACL, HRLA lawyer John Steenhoff and myself to take the policy and make it law. We have all been meeting and working on this for more than six months. Ms Penfold will present a bill next week in the lower house that states male and female must be defined in law to protect our sex based rights.

It is a private members bill specifically defining two biological genders – male and female – in the Sex Discrimination Act and also outlining specific protections for women’s spaces.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said on Saturday the federal court’s ruling was wrong and proved changes to the act were urgently needed to protect single sex spaces.

“The current law effectively prevents women and girls from having their own single sex spaces,” he said.

“There are two biological genders, male and female, and that is a real thing.

“This won’t take rights away from anyone, but it will ensure that women and girls (and men and boys) can protect spaces that they wish to reserve for them.”

Ms Penfold said it would also include protection for male and female spaces, services and activities.

“Sex is biological and binary and should not be ambiguous,” she said.

“This issue doesn’t just impact women, it also impacts men.

“Women and men’s groups have a right to feel safe and it is crucial we can live in a respectful society where that remains the case.”

Please take a moment, right now, to contact your federal MP and implore them to support this bill next week. It does not matter what side of politics they come from. They need to hear from you so they know where their constituents stand.