Thorpey, a bishop, sex workers and a grieving mum walk into the premier’s office. It’s no joke

For a bill that was left languishing in NSW parliament for more than a year, it moved with incredible pace once an Olympic swimming great, a bishop, sex workers and a grieving mother became involved. Just over a week ago in the premier’s office at 52 Martin Place, Chris Minns met this assorted bunch and more. They all had one goal: to convince Minns to back a long-promised equality bill to bring NSW in line with the rest of the county on LGBTQI issues. Sydney MP Alex Greenwich had the meeting booked in for a month.

In August last year, Greenwich introduced his equality bill, covering everything from banning private schools from discriminating against gay teachers and students to allowing trans people to change their birth certificate without surgery. It also outlawed gay conversion practices.

A motley crew’s audience with the premier: Alex Greenwich, Ian Thorpe, Heike Fabig and Bishop Peter Stuart. Credit:

Labor had an election commitment to ban gay conversion, and wanted its own bill. Former premier Dominic Perrottet had also promised to end the practice. Greenwich agreed to take out gay conversion from his bill to allow the government to stick to its election promise. The Coalition supported Labor.

But once that law passed, there was little appetite from the government or the Coalition for Greenwich’s legislation to take priority, not least because it was a private member’s bill. Minns repeatedly said the equality bill would be dealt with in due course, while the Coalition opposed it and had no interest in devoting time to it.

The Liberals know too well the price of wading into a culture war. In 2019, when the then premier, Gladys Berejiklian, was on a trade tour of Europe, three right-wingers attempted to call a spill motion against her leadership over the decriminalisation of abortion (again a Greenwich-backed bill). The spill never eventuated, but internal hatred festered long after. The division was so deep that Berejiklian promised her party room that there would be no more conscience votes in that term of government.

Berejiklian did not see out the term, after being found corrupt, so her promise lapsed. In 2021, a voluntary assisted dying bill, also introduced by Greenwich, came before the parliament. Berejiklian’s successor, Perrottet, allowed a free vote and the bill passed.

So when it came to Greenwich’s equality bill, moderate Liberals again expected a free vote. The party room, led by shadow attorney-general Alister Henskens, blocked it. North Shore MP Felicity Wilson, already on the outer for her progressive social stances, told her party she would cross the floor. Unlike Labor, the Liberals will not punish Wilson for that, but will she remain in the political wilderness for not toeing the line?

Henskens bemoaned that Greenwich rushed the bill, leaving the Coalition no time to digest it. But looming large are this weekend’s byelections, at which the Liberals will attempt to hold on to Hornsby, Epping and Pittwater. The first two are under little threat, but the Liberals are sweating on whether they can beat teal candidate Jacqui Scruby on the northern beaches. Liberal MPs tearing themselves apart during a free vote on LGBTQI issues would have been disastrous for the party.

Despite Henskens’ claims of unnecessary speed, it was that October 8 meeting in the premier’s office that changed everything, not least Minns’ mind. A voice that swung him was Heike Fabig’s, the mother of Bodhi Boele, a teenager who died in May. Only five months on from his death, Fabig tearfully explained to Minns why it would have meant so much to Bodhi, who had transitioned to male in 2020, to have changed his birth certificate. His “dying wish” was never fulfilled. She did not want other teens to suffer.

Also at the meeting, Newcastle Anglican Bishop Peter Stuart stressed to Minns that while the voices of some religious leaders against the equality bill were loud, they did not represent the views of all faith communities.

And then swimming great Ian Thorpe made his position known. “I don’t like to come last,” Thorpe told the meeting, “and NSW is coming last.” Fair call from an Olympian who’d won five gold medals and 11 world championship titles. NSW remains the only state that requires gender reaffirming surgery before changing the stated sex on a birth certificate.

Ironically, under federal reforms in 2011, people can change their stated sex on their passports and Medicare records. Those changes went unopposed by the federal Coalition led by Tony Abbott. More than a decade on, NSW Liberals are opposing the same changes for state-issued birth certificates.

Dying wish: Bodhi Boele with his father, Richard Boele, and mother, Heike Fabig.

Also pushing for the state reform at the meeting with Minns were the Australian Medical Association, union leaders, Rainbow Labor and Uniting Church minister Bill Crews. Sex workers were also there, as was Equality Australia. Minns, says Greenwich, listened to them all. By the end of the meeting, the premier had been convinced.

At a press conference the next day, Minns said he could not see why anyone needed “life-changing surgery” to change a birth certificate. The wheels were in motion. To give his bill the best chance of success, Greenwich scaled it back, taking out changes – for now – to prevent discrimination against gay and transgender teachers and students in private schools. Labor was on board.

By the end of this week, the equality bill will be law, thanks to a motley crew who had the ear of the premier.

Alexandra Smith is state political editor.

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