Report Confirms Discrimination Against Councillor Over Transgender Views

Transgender rights demonstrators are seen during a protest against an event by British activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull at the Tasmanian Parliament House lawns in Hobart, Australia on March 21, 2023. AAP Image/Ethan James

A political stoush has been brewing over the past nine months at Hobart City Council over the simple matter of hiring a venue.

In September 2023, Councillor Louise Elliot applied to book the city’s Town Hall ballroom to hold an “invite-only community forum on women’s rights and free speech.”

The event would feature herself and two other prominent figures of Australia’s women’s rights movement, Victorian Independent Liberal MP Moira Deeming and lawyer Katherine Deves.

The booking request fell flat.

Council’s staff blocked the application, citing concerns that the event would discuss “political views about transgender people and their participation in sport and access to facilities.”

After months of legal wrangling, followed by a conciliation process, the matter could be set for a resolution on July 3, when Hobart City Council holds a special meeting to vote on a report delivering the outcomes of an investigation into the case.

“The question that needs to be answered is: Has Louise Elliot been denied procedural fairness or otherwise been unfairly treated?” said the report published last week.

“The answer to that question is ‘yes.’”

The Apology

The report, conducted by Chief Executive Officer Michael Stretton, said it was “clear that Louise Elliot was directly discriminated against by the organisation” on the basis of her political belief or affiliation.

It found that Ms. Elliot’s booking request was “deliberately blocked without due process” and that Ms. Elliot was “lied to” when she was told that the venue wasn’t available.

It also found that Ms. Elliot’s Right to Information (RTI) request was “stifled,” as the staff involved in the bookings process had “intentionally failed to comply” with the request by “not providing all information that ought to be provided and by avoiding documenting discussions relating to the blocking of the booking.”

Hobart City Councillor Louise Elliot. Courtesy of Louise Elliot

The council needs to “put its hand up and own these errors,” the document said.

“On behalf of the Council, I apologise for any stress, anxiety, frustration, embarrassment, and inconvenience caused by the conduct that has been outlined in this report,” Mr. Stretton noted in the report.

“In making this apology, I would like to reiterate that the Council supports diversity and commits to upholding the principles of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 including the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of political belief or affiliation and political activity.”

The move came after Ms. Elliot issued a complaint to the state’s anti-discrimination body Equal Opportunity Tasmania (EOT) in October 2023.

According to the report, the staff involved in the blocking of Ms. Elliot’s booking request had assumed well-known British women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, would speak at the forum.

The staff also argued that the event would pose an “unreasonable risk” due to “security and workplace health and safety considerations,” despite the fact that no proper risk assessment was completed.

It was also revealed that council staff released information about Ms. Elliot’s booking application to the Lord Mayor, which was passed on to an individual outside of the organisation.

Councillor Calls the Acts ‘Bullying’

Speaking to The Epoch Times, Ms. Elliot, who was suspended from the Council for a month, said this was “not the first time that the Hobart Council has toyed with discrimination.”

“Sadly, this has been the pinnacle of bullying I’ve copped for over a year because I believe in the need for female-only sports and some spaces, like changerooms, shelters and prisons,” she said.

“Only a few years ago the Council tried to stop an event that focused on gender ideology, women and children.”

The councillor argued that it’s “impossible to take campaigns like ‘Hobart Respects All’ seriously when actions prove otherwise.”

“Without the right to information law and a whistleblower that eventually came forward, this behaviour would have been denied and swept away and allowed to happen again,” Ms. Elliot noted.

Council Keen to ‘Move Forward And Learn From Mistakes’

In a statement to The Epoch Times, Mr. Stretton said the meeting on July 3 would focus on “the council’s governance, performance and culture.”

He noted that the organisation has already undertaken a leadership development process. It is also in the process of rolling out discrimination training to “further empower our people and increase collaboration and cooperation.” 

“The events that occurred around the booking were not acceptable and will not be accepted within our organisation moving forward,” Mr. Stretton said. 

“I would encourage us all to move forward, learn from our mistakes and find a way to work constructively that is in the best interests of our organisation, and importantly aligned to our community vision, of working together to make Hobart a better place for the community.”