A One Nation MP has hit back at Western Australian Premier Roger Cook’s disparaging comments about him being passed over for preselection, and described the Labor state government’s radical and controversial gender self-identification bill as “madness”.
On Thursday it was announced that Ben Dawkins, Member of the Legislative Council for the South West had not been selected for his party’s upper house ticket, leading to Mr Cook alleging that Mr Dawkins had failed to meet community standards in language and conduct.
Mr Dawkins told Noticer News the comments showed that Mr Cook felt threatened by One Nation’s success in Western Australia, and took aim at the Sex or Gender Changes Bill, which would allow adults and children to change their legal sex or gender even though it is biologically impossible.
“I was extremely disappointed to see in yesterday that the Premier alluded to some imaginary thing that I didn’t say and didn’t do, but that he speculates led to me being overlooked for pre-selection on the Legislative Council ticket for 2025,” Mr Dawkins said.
“It was a ham-fisted effort by the Premier to attack my character and to attack the One Nation party no doubt due to his insecurity about One Nation’s upcoming success in the 2025 W.A. election.
“I haven’t fallen short of any so-called standard and I am at the absolute peak of my powers politically and morally, with a strong track record of work protecting and representing vulnerable people and the community.”
Mr Dawkins said that One Nation was the only party fighting the radical gender legislation, which he said would “allow devious and depraved men to intrude into spaces that must remain the sole domain of girls and women”.
“It literally destroys our social norms and protections for women and children. Women’s representatives across Australia, including Rachel Wong, have expressed their concern for the impacts of the bill on women and children,” he said.
Ms Wong from Women’s Forum Australia told Sky News in August that the bill would put women and children at risk by allowing men into female spaces.
“These MPs are saying things like, ‘oh well, there’s no evidence of harm from these kinds of laws’, and well, actually there’s plenty of evidence of harm,” Ms Wong said.
“There’s the evidence of harm in sport there are women being assaulted and female-only spaces we’ve shown them this evidence, and they’ve chosen to ignore it.”
Mr Dawkins agreed, saying that WA Attorney-General John Quigley has “defended the rights of creeps and perverts to enter women’s change rooms” and pointed out that the proposed legislation allows someone to change their sex on their birth certificate after a 10-minute GP consultation with no checks and balances in place.
“Also, the legislation encourages children as young as 12 to take this path – potentially leading to hormones/puberty blockers and surgical ‘transition’ – a pathway of ‘affirming’/ transitioning ‘care’ now discredited and denounced by the Cass report from the United Kingdom,” he said.
“While the rest of the world is coming to terms with a transgender agenda that has gone too far, the Cook government is lagging behind by pushing a model of care for our kids which has been abandoned overseas.
“There is a need for some, including intersex people and those with extreme and rare cases of gender dysphoria, to change their birth certificate but this is already provided for under current legislation. The Cook/Quigley approach of facilitating uncontrolled and open slather intrusions by deviants and degenerates is negligent irresponsible legislation and must be stopped. The Cook government should be removed for even putting it forward.”
Mr Dawkins was also critical of Labor MLC Peter Foster, who spoke out in a speech to parliament last month against a group called Keeping Children Safe, which wants graphic far-left propaganda book Welcome to Sex removed from Albany Public Library and is fronted by former One Nation candidate Michelle Kinsella.
“Mr Foster’s attitude to the reasonable concerns raised by Michelle and others that sexually explicit materials should not be in junior sections of public libraries, seems to leave scope for the Labor party to actually support the sexualisation of children. For my part, I am behind Michelle in her efforts and will not accept the creepy justifications of Mr Foster and the Labor party,” he said.
“One Nation continues to lead the way in calling out these and other gross failures by this incompetent, dangerous, wacky, loony Labor party. One Nation is performing extremely well in W.A. and across Australia, and is our best hope for restoring sense to government.
Mr Dawkins addressed his passing over for the party ticket by saying that Rod Caddies, who has been confirmed by Pauline Hanson as top candidate, was “an exceptional talent and great candidate and is very deserving of the number one position”.
“Having been confirmed as a leading candidate, I expect Rod will now step back from other responsibilities and focus on his candidacy with the humility, modesty and dedication to selflessness that is required to appeal to the electorate- as candidates it is never all about us,” he said.
“Rather, it’s about what we can do for the electors and for the party. I see no benefit in candidates providing a running commentary to the media on where I stand in terms of my worth as an MP. That is not a candidate’s role and whilst Pauline has given Rod a degree of authority, he does not hold any official office bearer position within the executive structure of One Nation.
“Electors want and deserve humility. I urge all candidates to step back and focus on humility, service and candidacy. The Party in WA is properly run by the WA executive, not by the candidates themselves, again, that would be self serving – In any case, I reject any suggestion that I’m anything other than a dedicated MP who fights for his electors as Pauline has told me to do.”
Mr Dawkins said that he is confident that One Nation will win “a good number” of both upper and lower house seats in the 2025 state election, and that he was travelling to Canberra on Monday to meet Ms Hanson at the National Keep the Sheep Rally.
“I intend to run for the lower house seat of Collie-Preston on a platform of keeping the coal jobs and supporting our sheep farmers – my hope is that Pauline will support me in that effort,” he said.
“Remember, Pauline, One Nation and Ben Dawkins have the guts to say what you’re thinking, that is why people like Mr Cook attack us – but it only makes us more determined to fight for the people.”
Earlier this year Kirralie Smith of Binary Australia said that Western Australia’s radical gender bill “defied reality”.
“It is important to note that no one on earth can change their sex. Sex is evidenced by the presence of chromosomes in every single cell of a persons’ body. It is also clearly observed by the reproductive system and whether it is geared to the production of large or small gametes (sperm or egg),” she said.
“No one has ever changed their sex. A dependence on hormone drugs or surgery can mask a person’s sex or partially imitate the opposite sex, but it cannot change sex.
“WA politicians want to pass the bill so there is ‘a new streamlined administration process’ via the Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, to allow a person to change the record of their sex. It is based on a lie.”
