The Free Speech Union of Australia has written to the AHRC to express its concern about a recent consultation launched by them. There are two primary issues that we have.

First, we find it most worrying that the Human Rights Commission - which is vouchsafed with protecting the most fundamental human right, namely free speech, is instead promoting 'concerns' such as 'mis-information'. This is inconsistent with the AHRC's statutory role.

Second, we are also concerned that the AHRC is seeking to censor submissions, to only people it calls 'subject matter experts' -Restricting who can submit is antithetical to liberal democratic principles and will have a chilling effect on submissions. It also does not help resolve the difficult issues, or advance the genuine concerns of trans people (rather than trans activists) being a mummery of a consultation process. We think Australians deserve a lot better from the AHRC.

Our full letter to the AHRC is below: