Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Christinamiot with the
Speaker 1: Front's afternoon headlines. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has told
Speaker 1: a UK university crowd it was quote a different time
Speaker 1: when her government controversially changed Australia's Sex Discrimination Act. The
Speaker 1: legislative amendments, which passed in twenty thirteen, repealed the definitions
Speaker 1: of woman and man from the Act. In the years since,
Speaker 1: some courts have preferenced gender identity over biological sex when
Speaker 1: hearing legal matters, like the Tickle versus Giggle court case.
Speaker 1: In that case, the Federal Court found the female only
Speaker 1: social networking company Giggle discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle
Speaker 1: when it withdrew her membership based on Tiggle's appearance. The
Speaker 1: case is currently the subject of an appeal. Gillard's comments
Speaker 1: were made in response to a question asked by an
Speaker 1: attendee of a lecture given by the former PM at
Speaker 1: Manchester University on Wednesday evening UK time.
Speaker 2: So I wanted to ask you to reflect really on
Speaker 2: your time as Prime Minister of Australia when you change
Speaker 2: the sex discrimination law to reflect the gender identity and
Speaker 2: not sex meaning that women in Australia are no longer
Speaker 2: defined in law by biological sex. Did you consider or
Speaker 2: reflect on some of the unintended consequences of that?
Speaker 3: If you look at the parliamentary debates in the changes
Speaker 3: to the Sex Discrimination Act in twenty twelve, you'll find
Speaker 3: that the issues you're referring to were not raised by
Speaker 3: anyone because they simply weren't a matter of public discourse
Speaker 3: the way they are today. So it was a different time.
Speaker 3: So I think we make an error in uplifting what
Speaker 3: we know now and public discourse now and just putting
Speaker 3: it down fourteen years ago.
Speaker 1: An alleged people smuggler has been charged after twelve people
Speaker 1: illegally arrived by boat to weeper in far North Queensland
Speaker 1: in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The thirty four
Speaker 1: year old Taiwanese man and a second individual were arrested
Speaker 1: by police in a supermarket car park later on Tuesday
Speaker 1: after members of the public raised the alarm. The Taiwanese
Speaker 1: man has been charged with one count of aggravated offense
Speaker 1: of people smuggling involving at least five persons, which carries
Speaker 1: a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment. He's expected to
Speaker 1: appear in the Cans Magistrates Court on Thursday, after he
Speaker 1: made an earlier appearance via video link on Wednesday. He's
Speaker 1: not yet been required to enter a plea. A second
Speaker 1: man who's thirty years old and of a different nationality,
Speaker 1: has been detained by the Australian Federal Police under the
Speaker 1: Migration Act, but hasn't been formally charged. The group of
Speaker 1: twelve people is understood to be from China. Home Affairs
Speaker 1: Minister Tony Burke confirm on Thursday the group has since
Speaker 1: been deported. The Wallabies will take on Ireland at Alian
Speaker 1: Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night in their first game
Speaker 1: of the Nation's Championship. Coach Joe Schmidt has made a
Speaker 1: handful of changes to the Wallaby squad, with fullback Jock
Speaker 1: Campbell to play his first Australian rugby union Test match
Speaker 1: in four years. Twenty three year old Lockie Shaw is
Speaker 1: expected to make his debut, while a new halfs combo
Speaker 1: of Max Jorgensen and Dylan Peach will also take the field.
Speaker 1: Check out those stories live right now at the Australian
Speaker 1: dot Com dot a U and come back to the
Speaker 1: front First Thing in the morning for our look at
Speaker 1: the latest installment in the Toy Story franchise and how
Speaker 1: it deals with our fears around technology's impact on childhood.
Speaker 1: That's right here, Friday morning,