Author: FLC Admin

Perth paedophile considered lesser risk to community after transitioning to woman | Daily Mail Online

  • Paedophile, 56, has had her(sic) supervision orders changed by a WA court
  • The court said their transition to a woman could reduce chance of reoffending
  • She(sic) was jailed over child sex abuse crimes in Perth’s Casuarina Prison in 2005
  • She(sic) plotted to set up a child sex ring in Thailand with another child abuser in jail 

The 56-year-old was locked up in Casuarina Prison in Perth in 2005 over child abuse crimes.

While behind bars, the ex-Royal Australian Air Force recruit met fellow child abuser and notorious WA paedophile, Mark Pendleton, with the pair planning to set up a business making porcelain dolls in Thailand, as a front to get access to children.

They had plotted to employ poor Thai women and intended to abuse their children.

The 56-year-old has been living in the community under strict conditions since 2012, but has been living as a woman since a gender dysphoria diagnosis in 2019.

This week WA Supreme Court Justice Michael Corboy ruled she be given a new four-year supervision order adding her gender transition had been in the ‘community’s interests’,  the West Australian reported.

Source: Perth paedophile considered lesser risk to community after transitioning to woman | Daily Mail Online

Menopause impacts career progression. What organisational changes are needed? – Lawyers Weekly

Menopause impacts all women at some point in life, typically between 44 and 55 years old, with the transition lasting up to a decade, and often arrives at a time when their aspiration to grow and develop their careers is at its highest.

Menopause continues to be a taboo life stage and something the majority of Australian businesses, communities and individuals are reluctant to engage with, explained Natalie Moore, consultant at Own Your Health Collective.

There are over 35 symptoms of menopause, including brain fog, confusion, and forgetfulness; trouble sleeping; anxiety and moodiness; and lack of self-confidence.

Currently, there is no legislation around women in menopause; however, in the UK, there have been several litigation cases brought by women who have been “performance managed out”, discriminated against, or harassed.

The new psychosocial regulations could provide a starting point to bring these topics to light, Ms Moore suggested, and there is a rise in menstrual and menopause policies, which give the opportunity for women to take days off work if they are feeling symptoms.

Yet, there is apprehension to introduce such policies, noted Ms Moore; businesses are concerned women will take advantage of the policies, or on the flip side, that women will not use them for fear of being singled out, especially if going through menopause.

Source: Menopause impacts career progression. What organisational changes are needed? – Lawyers Weekly

Tribunal bans female-only lesbian events

A state tribunal has rejected the right of same-sex attracted people to hold social functions that exclude transgender people.
Launceston lesbian activist Jessica Hoyle had sought an exemption from Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act to run female-only “drag-king” shows and other lesbian events.
The exemption was denied by Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt in July 2021, prompting Miss Hoyle to appeal to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
In a ruling late last week circulated on Monday, the tribunal rejected Miss Hoyle’s appeal, finding the desire for female-only lesbian events was insufficient justification for an exemption.
“While the applicants may not wish to comply with the Act and find aspects of its application to transgender and transsexual women irksome, particularly in the context of the event they would like to hold, that is not a sufficient justification,” ruled tribunal member Kate Cuthbertson.
Miss Hoyle told The Australian she was disappointed in the decision and would fight on, if necessary all the way to the High Court, believing same-sex attracted females should be able to exclude “people with penises” from social events.
“This decision erases the rights of women and freedom of association for lesbians,” said Miss Hoyle. “It is harmful to everyday, average lesbian women and gay men, who just want to be able to meet one another in a safe environment, and not have members of the opposite sex harass us
Miss Hoyle said she was seeking further legal advice but was likely to reapply for an exemption taking into account aspects of the tribunal decision..

Source: Tribunal bans female-only lesbian events

Puberty blockers for trans kid sparks legal war

Exclusive: Parents warring over their child medically transitioning genders have agreed to not allow their child to take puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones until the child is at least 16.
The agreement was reached after a landmark case in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia which heard 10 days of evidence.
The case centred around a pre-pubescent child.
For legal reasons News Corp cannot identify the child or the public clinic where the child was being treated.
The legal team involved also emphasised they cannot talk about any specifics of the case, but said it is the first time scientific evidence on the safety of puberty blockers has been thoroughly scrutinised in an Australian court.
Lawyer Bill Kordos, who represented the parent who did not want their child to go on puberty blockers, said the gender clinic involved should be disbanded.
“I feel for the hundreds of children that have gone through the gender unit, it’s that bad,” Mr Kordos said.
“The clinic’s evidence was politicised rather than medical and our evidence showed their biases.
“It’s an industry. We need an urgent public inquiry into this.”
Professor of law specialising in family and child protection, Patrick Parkinson, said this court case tested – for the first time – the evidence around puberty blockers and whether they were “safe, reversible and appropriate”.
He said puberty blocking drugs have only been licensed to be used on children with early onset puberty, not for gender incongruence, where it is often prescribed for a far longer period – usually up to five years.
“The experts sought to show that puberty blockers are not fully reversible nor safe for as long as they are being used by some gender clinicians,” Prof Parkinson said.
“Doctors know that they can have devastating effects on bone density, which should increase substantially for children who go through normal puberty.
“And we don’t know the effects on the brain of stopping a normal developmental process for so many years.”
Prof Parkinson said there was also the issue of diagnosis, with many children having a number of mental health issues that need to be carefully considered.
He predicted that when the current practices are fully exposed to careful scrutiny, this will be regarded as Australia’s “greatest medical scandal of the last 50 years”.
The clinic involved and the Department of Health said they could not comment.

Source: Puberty blockers for trans kid sparks legal war

Foster care: NSW launches review of out-of-home care sector

The plight of two boys in out-of-home care in NSW has been detailed in a court case that has sparked an urgent government review of the multimillion-dollar sector.

The state government has ordered an immediate review of out-of-home care services for children in NSW, following claims two boys were left hungry and too cold to go to school this year while their care provider sought thousands of dollars a day to look after them.

In a devastating assessment of the sector, a children’s court magistrate has detailed the “unconscionable” treatment, “appalling neglect” and “failure” in care by providers, including Lifestyle Solutions, and the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

Source: Foster care: NSW launches review of out-of-home care sector

Beauty pageants gave Maddy May confidence, but then an ugly world revealed itself – ABC News

At a 2018 Sydney pageant . . ., travelling entrants were put up at the pageant sponsor’s private accommodation. There were cameras hidden in rooms without women’s consent . . .

Darwin-based photographer Jed Hansen, who was photographing the event and also staying at the accommodation, found the cameras.

He says he noticed “odd” wiring in his own and then other rooms. He traced the wires to locate six “ultra-wide angle” domed cameras hidden “strategically in furniture pieces”, and in locations including a chandelier and a light fixture.

At another 2019 competition in China, May “found out that all the girls that had actually won had gone into private rooms with the sponsors and taken their clothes off and had parties with them”.

She says some of the women shared with her that “things had happened, and that’s why they had won”.

“You’re working crazy hours in ridiculous conditions … you need to present and look like a doll from 5am till 2am and keep that perfect look the entire time,” she says.

“Every single tiny little thing that you do is being judged, watched, pulled apart and criticised.”

May says being referred to on stage by number, not name,  “felt dehumanising”. She says she felt that pageant owners “basically own you”.

Source: Beauty pageants gave Maddy May confidence, but then an ugly world revealed itself – ABC News

No blockers – by Bernard Lane – Gender Clinic News

A potential test case involving an Australian gender clinic has settled with an expert witness abruptly withdrawing a recommendation of puberty blockers for a child of primary school age.

The Family Court trial featured several expert witnesses who informed the judge of the increasing concern about the safety of puberty blocker drugs and the European shift away from medicalised gender change for minors, according to multiple sources.

After 10 days of proceedings in a closed courtroom, the dispute between the child’s parents was settled earlier this month, with an injunction preventing any transgender hormonal treatments until the child is 16 years old. The injunction also prohibits any change of the child’s name or gender in official records before age 16.

The litigation is significant not only because the gender clinic capitulated and withdrew its recommendation of puberty blockers, but also because it is believed to be the first instance where an Australian judge has had the benefit of multiple expert arguments against the case for trans medicalisation.

Bill Kordos, a seasoned litigator with the national law firm AFL Kordos, called for a public inquiry into gender clinic medical interventions.

“I can’t discuss any aspect of this case or identify anyone [but] it is my view, being experienced at high-level litigation in these matters, that there needs to be a public inquiry as to how children are treated and diagnosed in this sphere,” he told GCN.

“In fact, I would go as far as to say that in some cases, [this trans medical treatment] would be tantamount to child abuse.”

In the litigation settled earlier this month, the courtroom was effectively closed to the public, and a suppression order kept the dispute between the child’s parents out of the official list of family law matters.

A former Federal Circuit Court judge, Stuart Lindsay, said the Family Law Act’s non-publication provision, s121, in its present form stifled the important public debate about whether youth gender medicine helps or harms minors.

“There is no good reason why experts who give evidence orally or via affidavits cannot be identified and their evidence and views made the subject of academic or general scrutiny, if nothing in their identification enables identification of a party or child,” Mr Lindsay told GCN.

Source: No blockers – by Bernard Lane – Gender Clinic News

UN official warns SNP gender reforms will ‘open the door to sexual predators’ who could abuse women

A United Nations official has launched a blistering attack on Nicola Sturgeon‘s controversial gender reform bill and suggested the SNP‘s mooted policies could pose a danger to women.

Reem Alsalem, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, penned a 4,500-word letter to the UK government urging a ‘thorough assessment’ of the proposed legislation, which she described as ‘unfair, rushed, vague and contradictory’ in its current form.

Ms Alsalem also raised concerns over safeguarding measures and the potential misuse of the bill’s procedure on self-identification, which could be ‘abused by sexual predators and other perpetrators of violence’.

In her letter, she wrote: ‘Such proposals would potentially open the door for violent males who identify as men to abuse the process of acquiring a GRC and the rights associated with it. This presents potential risks to the safety of women in all their diversity.

‘The Scottish government … does not provide for any safeguarding measures to ensure that the procedure is not, as far as can be reasonably assured, abused by sexual predators and other perpetrators of violence. These include access to both single-sex spaces and gender-based spaces.’

Ms Alsalem’s devastating letter revealed the Scottish government was already found to be in breach of the UN’s Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women protocol.

Source: UN official warns SNP gender reforms will ‘open the door to sexual predators’ who could abuse women

Only 3 per cent of women fleeing family violence receive the long term housing they need

New analysis shows only 3 per cent of women fleeing family violence received long term housing for the 2020 and 2021 financial years.

The Nowhere to Go report highlights that domestic and family violence makes a woman’s home the least safe place she can be and that getting to safety often means finding a new place to live. A lack of affordable housing therefore forces many women to choose between homelessness or returning to their perpetrator and the risk of violence.

Source: Only 3 per cent of women fleeing family violence receive the long term housing they need

Australian women are largely doing the same jobs they’ve always had, latest data shows

Many occupations in Australia are more heavily gendered than they were 35 years ago.

In 1986-87, 37% of hours worked by women were in female-dominated jobs. By 2021-22, it was was almost 44%.

Some jobs have moved from being male-dominated to being more balanced; especially in managerial and professional occupations.

In 2021-22, 53% of hours worked by accountants were done by females, up from 16% in 1986-87. Solicitors, human resources professionals and economists, to name just a few, have seen similar changes.

It’s also the case that there have been few cases of female-dominated jobs becoming more balanced in the past 35 years. Phsyiotherapists and aged and disabled carers are the only exceptions.

Source: Australian women are largely doing the same jobs they’ve always had, latest data shows