He says the proposed gender reforms are "unconsulted" and "rushed".

In reality, transgender advocates have been lobbying the state government for these reform for a decade and a half.

In 2016, the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission conducted an inquiry that recommended reform and last year the WA Law Reform Commission did the same.

In July 2018, well-drafted amendments were submitted to Attorney-General, Elise Archer, but she refused to act on them so advocates took their case to other members of Parliament instead.

Since then the amendments have been more closely scrutinised by MPs, parliamentary drafters, statutory officers, government departments and members of the general public than most other bills.

As for Senator Duniam's claim that Canadians can be jailed for using the wrong gender pronoun, University of Toronto law professor Brenda Cossman has said, "there is no criminalisation of the misuse of pronouns in Canada".  

All Canada has done is prevent hate speech against transgender people. 

This is something Tasmania did in 1998 without any of the dire consequences Senator Duniam predicts.

During the 2017 marriage postal survey most Tasmanians rejected fear-mongering on gender issues.

I believe most of us will do the same in regard to proposed gender law reforms once we understand why they are so important for transgender people.

THE Prime Minister is talking about high speed rail between Melbourne and Geelong which is a distance of 65 kilometres. The federal government has pledged $2 billion and the Victorian Government has put $50 million to look into the business case of the idea. 

Millions of dollars are just being wasted looking into things. Australia is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to high speed rail. 

At the pace the PM is calling we will never catch up.  

Come on Australia, put your foot down this sort of transport system is long overdue. 

MAY 2000 the Howard government sent every household an information booklet titled Essentials - the New GST Tax System.

It stated health, education, childcare, council rates, most foods, the prices should stay the same or go down. 

The opposite has happened. Pensions and allowances will always stay ahead of the cost of living, untrue spin.

They stated the watchdog ACCC are geared up to watch prices and take fast effective action when it identifies price exploitation. 

Any business profiteering will feel the long arm of the law. 

The ACCC monitoring three million prices which are expected to deliver substantial price reductions, untrue humbug.

Former Treasurer Joe Hockey was notorious for senseless funding cuts under the guise of cutting red tape. 

It restricted the power to act, a green light for much bad behaviour in a wide range of industry a fragile reputation.

HOW about the hypocrisy of teachers publicly declaring "students have a right to protest but it should be out of school hours".

One lot of rules for teachers and one for everyone else? They nearly always protest during school hours. Maybe they need to set an example.

DAN Tehan belittling students protesting on action on climate change will backfire on him. Suggesting that students are unable to have their own thought processes and intelligence is wrong, they are neither lackeys nor stooges. He is the one out of touch.

FOLLOWING and during recent bushfire and flood disasters, many writers have expressed their praise of emergency service groups and personnel. Quite rightly so.

I don't recollect mention of those great people who have kept pace of official comments seen and heard on TV and radio, by rapid fire sign language for the benefit of those hard of hearing. So, let's give a round of applause for those people who strive to keep everyone in the loop.

SCOTT Morrison has just made it easier for me to decide how to vote, once he said he would not rule out preferencing One Nation; the Libs really have gone down the drain big time now.

THE Tasmanian Coalition for Kids turns out to be a front for elements of the Catholic church. One would think that given the exposure of this organisation's long history of child rape and sexual abuse, they would think twice before commenting on such issues. Catholics should find another way to talk to their god, and the church should at the very least be taxed.

I AM not against changing things if there is a purpose and it will result in some kind of improvement, but I would like to know why supermarkets insist on changing everything around so that everyone gets confused.

What is their purpose? I am sure there must be a group of special executives somewhere who can only justify their position by rearranging things.