Greens leader Adam Bandt avoids answering gender question on Brisbane radio show
The leader of the Australian Greens has refused to provide a direct answer when asked how many genders there are during an interview on Brisbane talkback radio.
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The leader of the Australian Greens has refused to provide a direct answer when asked how many genders there are during an interview on Brisbane talkback radio.
Adam Bandt was asked about the issue by 4BC Breakfast host Peter Fegan in a tense radio exchange where the duo talked over the top of each other.
In a statement to The Courier-Mail after the interview, the Melbourne-based politician dismissed the question as part of a “culture war”.
“I refuse to be drawn into a culture war that questions the existence of transgender and intersex people,” he said.
“The Greens’ plan to tax big corporations to get dental into Medicare is wildly popular, and we’ll keep fighting for cost of living relief while Peter Dutton and Donald Trump back the billionaires and obsess about culture wars.
“Peter Dutton’s ‘war on woke’ won’t help you pay the bills.”
US President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order declaring that the federal government in the United States of America will only recognise two biological sexes, man and woman.
Mr Fegan declared he agreed with that position.
“I’m going to declare this, I’ll publicly declare it right now. I agree with it,” Mr Fegan said.
He then went on to ask Mr Bandt: “How many genders are there?”
Mr Bandt, who earlier this week announced a Greens policy that every public school child would receive an $800 back to school payment, said he didn’t agree with that approach.
“Well I don’t agree with that approach and I’ll tell you why,” Mr Bandt said.
“I know Peter Dutton has come out straight out of the gates after Donald Trump,” he claimed.
He was then interrupted by Mr Fegan who repeated the question. Mr Bandt then said: “I’m not going to engage in some kind of Peter Dutton, Donald Trump … ”
Mr Fegan then said: “Forget Peter Dutton, this is Peter Fegan …. This is important because people do listen to you …. I’m declaring on government documents here in Australia, we should only recognise two genders, a man and a woman. What does Adam Bandt think, the leader of the Greens? How many genders are there? It’s a simple question.”
Mr Bandt went on to say that there is a reason Mr Fegan referenced President Trump in his question.
“This is something Donald Trump said, Peter Dutton has also come out and said it,” he said.
“These hard right culture warriors want to start culture wars, including around things like gender, because it is a distraction from the fact that at the end of the day, what people like Donald Trump and people like Peter Dutton will do is deliver for the billionaires who stood at Donald Trump’s inauguration and for the big corporations.
“It’s a distraction from the fact that they’ve got no policies to actually reduce cost of living.”
Mr Fegan then claimed that “it is something that Australians are concerned about, they would like to know what leaders like yourself, what they think about gender.
He went onto ask: “Can you answer how many genders there are in Australia? Yes or no, you can’t answer it.”
Mr Bandt went onto tell Mr Fegan “what people want to know about.”
“People are concerned about the fact that mortgages are soaring, rents are soaring, grocery prices, people are being price gouged by the big supermarkets, and neither Liberal or Labor are prepared to do anything about it. and instead, you see them waging into these distractions,” he said.
“You see them starting all these kind of culture wars precisely because they want a distraction from the fact that they’re going to do nothing, absolutely nothing, to make everyday people’s lives better.
“Now Peter Dutton seems to be more concerned about waging a war on woke than about people’s wallets.
“The Greens are putting forward some practical policies that are going to make people’s lives better. If the others want to have a culture war, then I’m going to leave them to it.
“We’re going to focus on taking on the big corporations and making people’s lives better.”
Peter Dutton’s office has been contacted for comment.
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