Victoria’s public servants told to avoid saying ‘wife, husband’ in LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Language Guide

An 11-page document has listed “gendered” titles to be dumped from use by public servants — these are the words being phased out.

Victoria’s public service has been encouraged to use more inclusive terms. Picture: Jason Edwards

Victorian public servants have been told to stop using words like “wife” and “husband” to avoid offending non-heterosexual people.

And some judges are refusing to use “gendered” titles like “mister”, instead referring to people before them in court as “citizen” or “plaintiff”.

These tips are from the state government’s recently revised LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Language Guide for public servants.

Amid claims that the Andrews Government is obsessed with identity politics, the 11-page document says that inclusive language acknowledges and respects the “diversity of bodies, genders and relationships” in society.

“Inclusive language ensures we don’t leave people out of our conversations or our work,” it says.

On pronouns, the guide says that while most men use “he” and most women use “she”, some people use gender-neutral pronouns like “they/them”.

When inviting job applicants for an interview, they should be asked what pronoun they use and “what name you would like us to refer to you by”.

“Do not address someone on the phone by gendered terms such as ‘madam’ or ‘sir’ if you don’t know their gender,” it says.

Public servants must never assume that everyone is heterosexual or that this is the norm.

“Avoid using language such as “‘wife’ or ‘husband’ that assumes all relationships are heterosexual, as this excludes non-heterosexual people and devalues their relationships,” says the guide.

At meetings people should be greeted with “Welcome, everyone” or “Good morning folks”, while care must be taken not to offend people with gendered titles like “Ms, Miss, Mrs or Mr”.

The guide says that judges traditionally might use gendered titles like “Mr Brown! Please take your seat!” to indicate formality or to de-escalate a situation.

“Some judges have suggested a more gender neutral ‘catch-all’ title, such as ‘citizen’ (while) others have suggested...’plaintiff’,” it says.

Public servants who use the wrong term, name or pronoun are told to apologise promptly and move on.

“Don’t dwell on it, and don’t give up — keep trying to get it right,” the guide says.

Health Minister Martin Foley said the approach was not new and it’s all about treating each other to “be polite”.

Victorian public servants have been told to stop using words like ‘wife’ and ‘husband’.

“I was always brought up with the notion that it’s always best to be polite, and it’s being polite to someone to not take assumptions, as to their marital status, their sexuality or their role in life,” he said.

“I think that’s not a bad idea.”

Dr Bella d’Abrera, from free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, accused the Andrews Government of being obsessed with identity politics rather than capability.

“It tells you everything you need to know about the Andrews Government that it is more focused on policing the language of public servants than getting the 500,000 unemployed Victorians devastated by its draconian lockdowns back to work,” she said.

“The obsession with whether Victorian public servants should be using ‘wife’ or ‘husband’ epitomises an unelected bureaucratic class obsessed with identity politics, and not focused on the needs of mainstream Victorians.”

On Tuesday, the City of Yarra is due to endorse a new LGBTIQ+ “strategy” which includes council involvement in events like a flag-raising on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia.

A report on the strategy said an appendix of “Language & Terms” had been removed because “wording and understanding in this space changes incredibly quickly, and the appendix would soon have been out of date”.

A link to the Victorian government’s inclusive language guide is provided instead.

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Originally published as Victoria’s public servants told to avoid saying ‘wife, husband’ in LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Language Guide