Governor-General Sam Mostyn faces growing calls to abandon her patronage of the powerful LGBTIQ+ lobby group Equality Australia after it argued in the Federal Court against the right of biological women to have female-only spaces.
Groups from across the political spectrum, ranging from the conservative Family First Party to the progressive LGB Alliance, representing lesbians and gay men, have called for Ms Mostyn to resign as Equality Australia patron.
The advocacy group was granted amicus curiae (friend of the court) status in the Federal Court appeal specifically to argue against the long-established Lesbian Action Group, with Equality Australia chief executive and ex-Labor staffer Anna Brown citing the patronage of Ms Mostyn in her affidavit to intervene.
Under the strict rules set out by the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General, patronage must “pose no reputational risk to the office or governor-general” and the organisation must not “promote the governor-general as patron or imply any endorsement of a position or action”.
Ms Mostyn declined to answer any of 10 questions posed by The Australian about her patronage of Equality Australia, including whether the group represented “the things that unite Australia as a nation”, one of the stated roles of the governor-general’s community engagements.
Ms Mostyn also did not respond to queries about whether Equality Australia had consulted her, as required by the policy, on “activity that could be construed as fundraising, advocacy or any activity that could be considered beyond the publicly accepted role of the governor-general”.
The claim that the Governor-General has not endorsed Equality Australia activities appears to be at odds with Ms Mostyn’s announcement of the role, in which she says that it is her “privilege … as patron to support Equality Australia in bringing an end to discrimination and injustice”.
Source: Ten questions the G-G won’t answer on LGBTIQ lobby group patronage