Liberal staffer ‘pretended to be a woman’ to win ballot

A LIBERAL MP’s staffer has been accused of switching his gender identity “in five minutes” merely so he could win a university election.

Liberal staffer Alex Fitton.

A LIBERAL MP’s staffer has been accused of switching his gender identity “in five minutes” merely so he could win a university election.

Alex Fitton was elected to the Sydney University Students Representative Council on Wednesday night after bizarrely declaring he was no longer a man.

The student council introduced a regulation to its election rules last year stating that when one of two people intended to share a position on council “one must not identify as a cis male”.

A “cis male” is defined as being a man who identified as male.

Alex Fitton with colleagues.

Alex Fitton has been accused of switching his gender identity to win a university election.

Mr Fitton’s decision to announce he is not a “man” came after he nearly missed out on the appointment due to the new regulation.

He was duly appointed as the co-secretary general alongside Dylan Williams, who had no gender identity declarations.

Surprisingly Mr Fitton’s Facebook page lists his gender as male with no mention of his new-found identity as a “non cis male”.

Mr Fitton works as a media adviser for NSW Seven Hills Liberal MP Mark Taylor. It is understood he concocted the strategy on the spot with the assistance of Mr Taylor’s media adviser Dean Shachar.

Council president Chloe Smith said Mr Fitton may be forced to sign a statutory declaration that he does not identify as a “man” if opposition to his win is formally raised.

Federal Assistant Minister Alex Hawke backed Mr Fitton’s appointment to the council by “liking” a congratulatory post written on Facebook by Mr Shachar.

Mr Hawke’s office did not reply to requests for comment yesterday.

Mr Fitton, Mr Shachar and Mr Taylor also avoided answering questions about Mr Fitton’s new gender identity.

The new gig will net Fitton and Mr Williams about $13,000 a year.

Sydney University student Connor Parissis, 19, was elected to the separate position of queer ­officer at the same poll.

He said there were serious doubts as to Mr Fitton’s new identity given the candidate had not supported queer issues in the past.

“The whole (Liberal) party started freaking out and then five minutes later it seems Alex Fitton had a revelation about his identity and identified as non-binary and there were a lot of non-binary people it the room who were extremely offended and invalidated,” he said.

“It was just wrong for so many reasons.”

Due to the controversial nature of the election result, it was not officially declared and Ms Smith said it may be challenged.

She also said if Mr Fitton did swap identities simply to win the election he had “trivialised” extremely serious matters.

“It is trivialising a very real oppression that people face every single day and which literally leads people to deal with issues like suicide, mental health, homelessness and discrimination,” she said.

“If you don’t experience those oppressions than you shouldn’t pretend that you do just to win an election.”

OTHER NEWS