The New South Wales Minister for Women has defined men who “identify as women” as “women” in an exchange about biological males playing women’s sport and using women’s change rooms and toilets.
Labor MP Jodie Harrison made the comments in Budget Estimates on February 27 while being questioned by the Chair of the Justice and Communities Portfolio Committee Robert Borsak, of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.
Her statements have since been described as “utterly ridiculous” by women’s rights advocate Kirralie Smith, who is currently being dragged through the courts over social media posts about men who play on a women’s soccer team in Sydney.
The NSW Minister for Women has defined people who “identify as women” as “women” in a bizarre exchange about biological males being allowed in women’s sports, change rooms and toilets. pic.twitter.com/5rEI1ejwya
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) March 8, 2025
“Unfortunately, the Minister for Women either missed Biology 101 in year 7 or she is an outright liar because she bends over backwards to state men can be women,” Ms Smith said.
Mr Borsak first asked Ms Harrison how the government was protecting women from competing against men in women’s sport, referring to new bans on so-called transgender women by sporting bodies in the US, to which the minister replied that the government’s position was to leave the decision to the sporting codes.
“Minister, how is the Government ensuring that women are safe to change or use toilet facilities without privacy and safety being threatened by biological men?” Mr Borsak then asked.
“Certainly, to us, if somebody identifies as a woman, then they should feel free to use women’s change rooms. If somebody identifies as a man, they should feel free to use men’s change rooms,” Ms Harrison said during her response.
“That is your position then, that trans women are allowed into women’s change rooms regardless of how real women feel about them being in there?” Mr Borsak asked.
“It’s our view that women are entitled to go into women’s change rooms. Men are entitled to go into men’s change rooms,” the minister replied.
Ms Harrison then responded to questions about women’s safety by saying she did not have the crime statistics on “whether trans people perpetrate crimes”, but said she thought most crimes perpetrated against women were committed by men or people who “identify as men”.
Then when asked by Mr Borsak whether it was appropriate for biological males to use women’s facilities, Ms Harrison’s answer again defined “woman” as anyone who identifies as a woman.
“It’s our view that people who identify as women should be able to use women’s change rooms and men who identify as men should be able to use men’s change rooms,” she said.
This is the beginning of the exchange pic.twitter.com/Ubji1XnR5i
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) March 8, 2025
Ms Smith said the exchange raised questions about how Ms Harrison could be the Minister for Women if she could not define what a woman was.
“How can someone identify as a woman if we don’t know what a woman is? It is complete nonsense! How can [Ms Harrison and Labor] be trusted with anything if they lie about the most fundamental fact of binary sex – there are only two options – male or female and no human has ever changed their sex,” Ms Smith said.
“Is it any wonder then that a male won the Sydney Woman of the Year award? Is it any wonder that the NSW government allows males to be in the running for NSW Woman of the Year? Is it any wonder that males are in female sports, prisons or women’s rape crisis services in NSW?
“Is it any wonder I am in court for stating the simple, evidence-based scientific fact that men cannot become women?”
Ms Smith is fighting vilifications cases brought by a male members of NSW women’s soccer teams who claim to be “trans women”, after first being hit with restraining orders for posting about them on X.
“The first thing that came was two police officers turned up at my house to tell me that I had been summoned to appear in court over violent actions,” Ms Smith told a Sky News special.
The Apprehended Violence Orders (AVO) were then followed by vilification complaints filed in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
One was filed by American far-left activist turned-Sydney Bats player Riley Dennis, who once wrote a now-deleted article for Everyday Feminism titled “Here’s Why Misgendering Trans People Is an Act of Violence”, after his AVO was withdrawn, and a hearing is scheduled for April.
The other was filed by another male soccer player who cannot be identified for legal reasons, and Ms Smith is awaiting judgement in that case.
“They accused me of vilification for referring to them as male, that they believe they are women and I won’t accept that,” Ms Smith said.
“I say, no, they are male. Once born male, you can’t change your sex. No human on Earth has ever changed their sex and so, they’re pursuing me now for vilification.”
She estimated she has spent more than $100,000 on her legal defences so far, and said the vilification cases could end up costing her that much again, but said she would not back down.
“I don’t want to live in a totalitarian state. I don’t want to live in a country where you cannot speak the truth for fear of legal action and so I will fight this. This is the hill I will die on.”
Header image: Left, Ms Harrison during the discussion (NSW Parliament). Right, Ms Harrison with a drag queen at a primary school event last year (Instagram).
