In a single week the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 was tested in three places at once. The Full Federal Court of Australia handed down a unanimous ruling against the women's only social app Giggle for Girls. The Sex Discrimination Commissioner spent two hours in Senate estimates defending pregnancy protections for biological men. A Nationals MP tabled a private member's bill to put biological definitions of man and woman back into the Act. The Prime Minister was asked about it on ABC Afternoon Briefing. His answer was to decline the question.

Asked by Patricia Karvelas whether he would back changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to define women as biological women, Anthony Albanese said, "Look, I'm not engaging in cultural wars here." He pivoted to the budget and the government's $4.4 billion package on women's safety and the national plan to end violence against women and children, describing it as the largest investment any government has made in the area.

The funding line is verifiable. The bill the Opposition tabled is not about women's safety funding. The two things aren't the same answer to the same question.

The Tickle Ruling

On 15 May 2026, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia dismissed an appeal by Giggle for Girls founder Sall Grover and partially upheld a cross appeal by Roxanne Tickle. The court found Giggle for Girls and Grover had engaged in two acts of direct discrimination against Tickle on the ground of gender identity under the Sex Discrimination Act. Damages were increased from $10,000 to $20,000. The original 23 August 2024 ruling by Justice Robert Bromwich had found one act of indirect discrimination. The appeal court found two acts of direct discrimination.

The ruling turns on the 2013 amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act, which added gender identity as a protected attribute alongside sex, sexual orientation and intersex status, and removed prior definitions of "man" and "woman." The Australian Human Rights Commission described the appeal decision as providing important clarity about the protections against gender identity discrimination.

The case is now the most significant test of the 2013 amendments at the Federal Court level.

The Estimates Exchange

On 26 May 2026, Senate estimates pressed Sex Discrimination Commissioner Dr Anna Cody on what the Tickle ruling now means for women only services in Australia. Cody confirmed that a women only app cannot exclude a biological man who identifies as a woman, and that the Commission welcomed the Federal Court's decision.

Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash then questioned Cody on a submission the Commission had made to the Federal Court regarding pregnancy protections. Cody confirmed that a transgender woman, a biological male, cannot become pregnant, but argued the Sex Discrimination Act's pregnancy protections could still apply to a transgender woman on the basis of potential pregnancy. The exchange was widely circulated on social media and reported across mainstream press.

Earlier in the same hearing, Australian Human Rights Commission President Hugh de Kretser was asked how the Commission defines a woman. He answered "an adult female human, and includes a transgender woman."

The Commissioner's salary is more than $400,000 per year.

The Penfold Bill

On 25 May 2026, Nationals MP for Lyne Alison Penfold tabled the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sex-Based Rights) Bill 2026 in the House of Representatives. The bill proposes restoring biological definitions of "man" and "woman" to the Sex Discrimination Act, clarifying that biological sex should prevail where legal conflicts arise between sex and gender identity, and providing explicit protection for women's only spaces including prisons, domestic violence shelters and sport.

Penfold framed the bill as a response to the 2013 amendments and the Tickle ruling. "The court interpreted the law that this parliament wrote. The fault lies here," she said in the House.

Coalition leader Angus Taylor has indicated the Coalition would amend the Sex Discrimination Act if elected. The Albanese government has a 94 seat majority in the lower house and is the deciding voice on the bill. As of this week, the government's position is the position the Prime Minister gave on ABC Afternoon Briefing.

The Kirralie Smith Case

The federal Act sits over a state level case that One News reported on separately. In December 2025, the NSW Local Court ordered Binary Australia spokeswoman Kirralie Smith to pay $95,000 in damages after Deputy Chief Magistrate Sharon Freund found she had unlawfully vilified two transgender soccer players under section 38S of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act. Smith's appeal is now before the NSW Supreme Court and the orders are stayed.

The case is the first finding of unlawful transgender vilification under NSW law. Smith maintains she was reporting publicly available information and raising what she calls reasonable questions about fairness in women's sport. The appeal is live and the merits are for the court.

The Tax Side Note

This wasn't the only place the PM had a tough week. On 21 May 2026, NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns publicly criticised the federal government's handling of bracket creep, telling reporters workers on the top tax rate of 47 per cent were "working Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday for yourself, and then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for the government." Treasurer Jim Chalmers responded by noting that's not how marginal tax rates work, and fact checkers have since noted the effective tax rate even on Minns' own $348,301 salary is closer to 37 per cent. Bracket creep is a real issue. The "half the week" framing simplifies the maths.

That a Labor Premier said it publicly is the part the Prime Minister will be navigating.

Where It Sits

The Federal Court has handed down its ruling. The Sex Discrimination Commissioner has set out the Commission's reading of the law. The Coalition has tabled a bill. Recent polling published this week put One Nation one point behind Labor on primary vote, with the Coalition behind both. The Prime Minister has told the country, when asked about all of it, that he is not engaging in culture wars.

The next move is parliament's.

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