ACON is giving advice to Prime Minister’s Office, ABC, government departments, universities, police

Dozens of Australian government departments and other institutions are seeking advice from a controversial trans lobby group that claims workplaces should have “all gender toilets”.

Exclusive: Dozens of Government departments and institutions, such as the ABC, are seeking advice from a controversial trans lobby group that claims “birth mother” is an outdated term and workplaces should have “all gender toilets”.

Just last month, Services Australia – a paying member of the group ACON, a self-appointed expert on LGBTQ equality – was blasted for trialling the phrase “birthing parent” on Medicare forms instead of “birthing mother”. It reversed the decision after a public outcry.

Now it can be revealed ACON – which stands for Aids Council of NSW, but has diversified into workplace policy – has embedded itself at the heart of up to 60 government departments and agencies, including the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet, schools, universities and Police, as well as private business.

A Freedom of Information request of ABC's submission to the Australian Workplace Equality Index reveals photos of its "all gender" toilets.

Among some of the things brought into the workplaces include:

*“All gender toilets” at the ABC, as single-sex toilets can cause anxiety for some due to “regularly being misgendered”.

*The Attorney General’s Department’s Pride newsletter ran a list of must watch trans movies and called on employees to show their support by ordering free Pride merchandise like mousepads and rainbow lanyards to “help LGBTQI+ colleagues bring their whole self to work”.

*The Department of Home Affairs’ document on “Understanding Gender Identity Affirmation”, where it used ACON’s language to describe those born male who identify as male, and those born female and identify as female, as “cisgender”, rather than by sex-based terms such as men and women.

*Drag bingo, with a virtual mardi gras and a Pride ball under consideration.

IT specialist Kit Kowalski, who is behind the website ACON Exposed, warned that ACON’s controversial ideology and concepts were creeping into workplaces and increasingly being enshrined in school curriculums and legislature, which she believed could potentially undermine and replace women’s and girl’s sex-based rights.

Kit Kowalski, behind ACON Exposed, says sex-based rights and spaces are being eroded in the workplace.

“ACON is creating a culture that supports a particular narrative that trans people are the most vulnerable, that there is no such thing as sex, that kids can change their gender,” Ms Kowalski said.

ACON, which receives $13 million of government funding a year, makes $4 million from organisations signing up as members and from its diversity courses.

It also runs a free and voluntary league table called the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI), which lists the most “inclusive” organisations.

The ABC, which joined the league table in 2018, already has “gold status”, while its managing director David Anderson won ACON’s “CEO of the year”.

The Australian Taxation Office has “platinum status”.

ACON’s schemes are directly imported from the UK charity Stonewall.

However, the BBC has since pulled out of the equivalent scheme following questions as to whether it “can be impartial when reporting on public policy debates where Stonewall is taking an active role”.

The UK’s media watchdog Ofcom, the Equality Human Rights Commission and some UK government offices are among the other bodies to have dropped out, amid accusations the charity has been misrepresenting equality law, which it denies. No such allegations have been made against ACON.

A freedom of information request by Ms Kowalski found that ACON’s influence was so great, an ABC staff member asked a consultant from the lobby group for a definition of “family”.

Last week, Media Watch criticised the ABC for failing to cover the story about the Tavistock gender clinic in the UK, which was shutdown following a review that found it was not serving the interests of children.

Coalition for Biological Reality founder Stassja Frei said the ABC was so biased when it came to trans issues that it was “embarrassing”.

Coalition for Biological Reality founder Stassja Frei. Picture: Supplied

She said the fact the BBC and various UK government departments had pulled out of Stonewall’s schemes should be a “massive wake-up call to the ABC board of directors and all their journalists”. She pointed to the similarities between ACON’s program and the one in the UK.

An ABC spokeswoman said its editorial policies require all journalists to maintain the independence and integrity of the ABC and “ensure that editorial decisions are not improperly influenced by political, sectional, commercial or personal interests”.

The spokeswoman said the ABC will continue to report on transgender and gender identity issues “from all relevant perspectives, and the AWEI index will have no bearing on their editorial decision making”.

News Corp has approached ACON and the Prime Minister Office for comment.

AWEI 2022 LIST

Employer of the Year

Capgemini Australia

Platinum Employers (Long Term Gold Employers):

Accenture

EY Oceania

Clayton Utz

PwC

RMIT University

Platinum Projects

AGL Energy

Australian Taxation Office

Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Woolworths Group

Platinum Qualifiers for 2020

Capgemini Australia

Deloitte Australia

NAB

QBE Insurance

Gold Employers

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Capgemini Australia

Coles

Deloitte Australia

Queensland Department of Education

Fujitsu Australia

IBM Australia

KPMG

Macquarie University

MinterEllison

NAB

nbn co

Origin Energy

QBE Insurance

Salesforce

Services Australia

SBS

The Star Entertainment Group

University of New South Wales

University of Queensland

University of Sydney

Silver Employers

Alcoa of Australia

Allianz

American Express Australia

CSIRO

Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

Department of Education & Training Victoria

Australian Government Department of Health

DLA Piper Australia

EnergyAustralia

Grant Thornton Australia

Griffith University

JP Morgan

Monash University

Norton Rose Fulbright

Scentre Group

Stockland

Telstra

Victoria University

Zurich Financial Services Australia

Bronze Employers

Allens

Amazon

Ampol

Arup

Ashurst

Aurecon

Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC)

BHP

Bupa

Charles Sturt University

Charter Hall

Datacom

Australian Government Department Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force

Australian Government Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet

Australian Government Department of Social Services

Dexus Holdings

Domain Group

Edith Cowan University

Energy Queensland

Hollard Insurance

IAG

Jacobs Australia

John Holland

Lendlease

Life Without Barriers

Maddocks

Mercer Australia

NRMA

NSW Police Force

QIC

SAP Australia

Settlement Services International

Shell

TPG Telecom

Treasury Wine Estates

University of Melbourne

University of Western Australia

University of Wollongong

Westpac Banking Corporation

Most Improved Employer

NRMA (152% improvement)

Small Employer of the Year

Boston Consulting Group

Small Employer Gold

Boston Consulting Group

Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers

The GPT Group

Russell Kennedy Lawyers

Deutsche Bank, Australia

Small Employer Silver

McCullough Robertson Lawyers

Clifford Chance

Small Employer Bronze

Liberty Financial Group

Gilead Sciences

Oliver Wyman

Initiative Media

American Express Global Business Travel

The Northern Trust

Allen & Overy

Most Improved Small Employer

Investa Property Group (115% Improvement)

Individual Awards Categories – Winners

CEO of the Year

David Anderson – Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

NSW Assistant Commissioner Gelina Talbot. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Executive Leadership

Assistant Commissioner Gelina Talbot – NSW Police Force

External Media Campaign

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) – ABC Innies + Outies podcast

Network Leader of the Year

Benjamin Vella – Stockland

Out Role Model

Kim Lee – National Australia Bank

Sally Webster Ally

Janani D’Silva – Capgemini Australia

Sapphire Inspire

Alicea Stoney – KPMG

Jenny Ratsep – EnergyAustralia

Employee Network of the Year

Pride @ KPMG

Trans/Gender Diverse Inclusion

Capgemini Australia

Originally published as ACON is giving advice to Prime Minister’s Office, ABC, government departments, universities, police