The Full Federal Court has handed down its judgement in Giggle v Tickle. In a shock to women across the country - Sall Grover not only lost her appeal, the Court set aside the original finding of indirect discrimination and replaced it with direct discrimination, upholding Tickle's cross-appeal. The damages were doubled from $10,000 to $20,000. It’s important to note the Court expressly said it was only applying the Sex Discrimination Act as it is written- it is "not empowered to give effect to its own view" about whether that law is desirable. In 2013, @JuliaGillard’s @AustralianLabor government amended the Sex Discrimination Act- stripping the meaning out of "man" and "woman" and adding gender identity as a protected attribute to be pitted against biological sex. Today's outcome is proof of what those amendments have done: women are left with no meaningful rights or recognition under the Sex Discrimination Act - a bitter irony, given that protecting women was the very purpose of the Act under our commitment to CEDAW. In my opinion, this is a verdict on the law, not on Sall. The judges found that the law - as that government amended it - left them no other conclusion. These amendments must be repealed. The Sex Discrimination Act must once again recognise biological reality and protect women's right to single-sex spaces. What a dark and devastating day for Australian women and girls. #RepealTheSDA2013 #IStandWithSallGrover #GigglevTickle #Auspol
