Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton says Family First candidates contesting the next New South Wales and Victorian elections will, if elected, push to restore clearly designated male and female toilets in public buildings in order to protect the privacy, dignity and safety of girls and women.
Mr Shelton said Australians were increasingly alarmed at the push by governments and bureaucracies to erase sex-based spaces in favour of so-called "all-gender" facilities.
"Politicians are caving in to the LGBTQA+ political lobby and pandering to men who think they are women and demand access to girls' and women's spaces," Mr Shelton said.
"Women and girls should not be forced to surrender their privacy and dignity because political leaders are too weak to stand up to radical gender ideology."
Mr Shelton said Family First would campaign for state governments to reject and reverse provisions of the new National Construction Code which allow developers to replace up to half of male and female toilets with "all-gender" facilities.
"This agenda has never been driven by ordinary Australians. It has been pushed relentlessly by activist groups seeking to normalise the idea that biological sex is meaningless," he said.
"The result is that women and girls increasingly feel unsafe, uncomfortable and excluded from spaces designed specifically for them."
Mr Shelton commended the Australian Christian Lobby for bringing public attention to the issue through its recent campaign.
"The Australian Christian Lobby deserves credit for exposing what is happening and mobilising Australians to speak up before it is too late," he said.
"The fact that Tasmania stripped these provisions from its version of the code and the Northern Territory rejected the code entirely proves governments can resist this ideological overreach if they choose."
Mr Shelton said Family First rejected the idea that protecting women's spaces was somehow hateful.
"It is not hateful to recognise biological reality or to defend the privacy rights of women and girls," he said.
"Male and female are not interchangeable concepts. Every society until very recently understood that separate facilities existed for good reason."
Mr Shelton said Family First MPs would work to ensure public buildings, schools, sporting venues and shopping centres retained clearly designated male and female toilets.
"Girls and women should not have to self-exclude from public spaces or feel anxious every time they use a bathroom because politicians are bowing to activist pressure," he said.
"Family First will fight to restore common sense and protect the rights and dignity of women and girls."
