A Hobart City Council member is under investigation by the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner for “inciting hatred” after declaring “trans women are men.” Louise Elliot is now facing a costly formal inquiry by the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a case which has the potential to restrict freedom of speech. If the tribunal rules against Elliot, she may be ordered to publicly apologize and pay a fine of up to $4,000.
In March, Elliot attended a Let Women Speak demonstration organized by Standing for Women and led by British women’s rights campaigner Kellie Jay-Keen. The event was intended to provide women with a platform to express their concerns or criticisms of gender ideology.
As part of a prepared speech she gave during the event, Elliot stated that it was impossible to change sex, that “trans women are trans women and remain biological men.”
During her speech, Elliot also highlighted how gender ideology poses safeguarding risks, noting how such policies impact women and girls.
“While the majority of men are decent, kind and caring people, men present an inherent danger to women. The vast majority of sex offenders and violence perpetrators are men. It is completely understandable that women would want spaces for females only, especially vulnerable spaces like changerooms, toilets, and showers. It is absolute insanity that we have a law that allows a man to at 10am declare he’s a woman and by 11am be sharing changerooms and showers with young girls.”
On May 5, Elliot received a letter from the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner (ADC) informing her that they had received a complaint about her statements and had opened an investigation into her activities for “inciting hatred” under the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act.
The complainant, who cannot be named during the ongoing investigation, also took issue with a statement made by Elliot in the context of male violence and the defense of women-only spaces, wherein she stated, “You cannot be raped with a penis if there is no penis present.”
In November, Tasmanian ADC Sarah Bolt ruled that Elliot’s case would proceed to a tribunal inquiry. In response, Elliot has been vocal about her situation on X (formerly Twitter), and has promised to appeal her case to the High Court should she be found guilty of inciting hatred.
“If it is found that I have incited hatred with these accurate, factual, accurate, and true statements, then I won’t be standing for that. And I know that the majority of Australians don’t believe the truth can be hate. So we will absolutely be taking it all the way to the High Court, because this is a massive overreach on our implied right to freedom of belief, freedom of expression, political communication, and we need to defend that,” Elliot told Ben Fordham Live.
Elliot also noted that the legal attack against her is being funded by taxpayers. “The threshold for inciting hatred needs to be really high. It can’t be just because someone is offended. What really gets me is that it’s our taxpayer money that is funding this attack on freedom of speech.”
However, Elliot is expected to pay her legal fees out of her own pocket, and is crowdfunding to cover costs. In the event of a ruling against her and an appeal to the High Court, Elliot has said she estimates the process to cost $100,000.
In addition to the litigation, Elliot says she’s also been experiencing harassment from her colleagues for criticizing gender identity ideology. In a video she shared to X in October, Elliot described how she had been singled out for her views.
“Over the past several months, I’ve been copping some pretty heavy bullying by some of the Hobart City Councllors, and collectively as a council. You hear the Hobart City Council talking a lot about inclusion, diversity, and being welcoming and kind… But inclusion is welcomed if you agree with their thinking. If you don’t agree, then you are heavily excluded and targeted and bullied,” she said.
Elliot went on to explain that she does not believe that humans can change sex, and that women and girls are entitled to single-sex spaces and sports.
During one meeting, the Deputy Lord Mayor Councilor Helen Burnet put forward a motion that the council write to three different organizations to complain about Elliot. The councilors wrote to the Integrity Commission, the Anti-Discrimination Commission, and local government officials to request action be taken against Elliot over a series of posts she made on X.
The #Hobart City Council has written to the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner asking them to consider if I have breached the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998. It's almost as if they don't want information that's being pushed on kids and passed off as objective,… pic.twitter.com/KyKFoHDIwA
— Louise Elliot (@LouiseElliotM) October 26, 2023
“We had a training session from a local organization, and I questioned some of the details that were in their fact sheet. Some of the details I found quite concerning, for example, statements that, ‘Trans women are not dominating women’s sport.’ I disagreed with that and tweeted some pictures of trans women playing in women’s soccer, and it’s happening globally,” Elliot said.
“In the fact sheet we had, they also tried to say that because black women are women, trans women are women. And I found that really quite a disturbing statement, quite racist and far from the truth.”
The fact sheet presented during the diversity training session, run in September by Working It Out Tasmania, also argued that trans-identified males do not pose a risk in female-only spaces.
“There is very little evidence of women’s spaces being secretly infiltrated by people with criminal motives, eg, sexual assault. Nearly every story that has emerged in the media or research regarding this has been disproven or discredited,” the document stated.
The Hobart City Council has been busy! They've also bundled up (some) of my tweets about the claims made in the re-education ('training…') session I attended, asking me to be investigated by the Director of Local Government. They don't like my tweets. I wonder why? Is it… pic.twitter.com/ASj3LLjuwC
— Louise Elliot (@LouiseElliotM) October 26, 2023
Elliot further revealed that she had been sent a letter by Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Helen Burnet chastising her for her views.
“You have consistently spoken out against transgender people and have on the public record refuted that transgender women are women,” the letter read. At Burnet’s request the city council asked the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner to consider that Elliot had, in their view, breached the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1998, which was amended in 2019 to include the subjective category of gender identity, but does not presently provide legal protections on the basis of biological sex.
Elliot has said she has received a flood of supportive messages from constituents. In September, a small demonstration was held outside of Hobart City Council Town Hall, wherein protesters called on the Deputy Mayor to “call off the witch hunt” against Elliot.