One Nation’s Stephen Andrew signs anti gender-neutral toilet petition

Thousands, including a One Nation politician, have backed scrapping the Fraser Coast Regional Council’s construction of gender neutral toilets at popular caravan parks.

Jeanette Maynes's petition against the gender-neutral toilets has the support of One Nation MP Steven Andrews.

A petition against the Fraser Coast Regional Council’s decision to have gender-neutral toilets at its caravan parks has gathered thousands of signatures.

The petition was started by Scarness’s Jeanette Maynes on January 30 and has more than 3400 signatures including that of One Nation Member for Mirani Stephen Andrew.

Ms Maynes said she started the petition to protect women, mothers and girls from “perverts spying and filming over cubicles” or “predator males”.

Ms Maynes said the council should build “all new gender-specific buildings” with separate male and female amenities blocks.

This toilet block design is at the centre of much controversy online.

The council owns four caravan parks in Scarness, Burrum Heads, Pialba and Torquay and has been upgrading each of them.

The Scarness block has already been built, with the other three under construction.

Division 6 councillor David Lewis, who is retiring from the council in the lead-up to March’s elections, replied to Ms Mayne’s Facebook post challenging the claims she had made about the facilities.

Jeanette Maynes created the petition against the gender neutral bathrooms to "protect women and girls".

Mr Lewis said the design of the changing area was a “central rectangular building” accessible via a concrete path with a battened screen outside out of it.

The buildings comprise of several individual bathrooms, several individual toilets, a laundry and a baby change room.

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The Fraser Coast Regional Council owns four caravans park across the region.

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“All the changing rooms are designed to be used by either sex but are not intended to be used by both sexes at the same time,” Mr Lewis said.

“None of the rooms are designed for personal use, hence the mixing of sexes will not occur, the notion it would it is simply an irrelevancy.”

Mr Andrew said safe access to “public restrooms” was an “essential need” for men, women and children plus other genders.

“Women disproportionately suffer from higher rates of domestic and sexual violence, lower pay and now they can’t even have their own toilet,” he said.

Originally published as One Nation’s Stephen Andrew signs anti gender-neutral toilet petition