Victoria’s equality minister says the government will oppose a push to examine “transgender ideology” as part of an upcoming inquiry into cults.
Earlier this month, anti-trans lobby group Binary published a blog post saying the Liberal party MP Moira Deeming was “urging people to make submissions” to the parliamentary inquiry into cults and organised fringe groups and had “shared a helpful document with suggested answers”.
Deeming has told Guardian Australia she distributed the document that claims transgender ideology “operates like a cult and harms people in the same way”.
The six-page document offers “tips” for people who believe “transgender ideology is harmful and cult-like” and stresses submissions highlight three key elements – manipulation, domination and psychological harm.
It includes suggested responses for various groups, including parents of transgender children, sports coaches, health professionals and school teachers.
One suggested response reads: “Government enforced Transgender Ideology operates like a cult and harms people in the same way, because we can’t leave, we aren’t allowed to disagree, we lose our rights against it and it’s harmful to us.”
The document suggests that submissions call for an investigation into the “harm caused by the current sex education curriculum”, the introduction of “protections in law for gender-critical beliefs” and “protections for whistleblowers or conscientious objectors to gender-affirming practices”.
It also calls for the “removal and dismantling of transgender ideology from institutions”.
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Deeming denied she wrote the document but said she had shared it, as well as another that claimed the government’s Covid-19 response – “including lockdowns, mandates, coercive messaging, censorship and medical segregation” – was “cult-like”.
That document also provides suggested responses to the inquiry and suggests Covid-19 policies “used coercive control” and health authorities “behaved like an ideological cult that punished dissent” during the pandemic.
“Neither of the submission tips documents criticise or target any person or community – they both criticise the government,” Deeming told Guardian Australia.
Deeming accused the government of “exploiting minority groups to shield themselves from legitimate criticism”.
“Many people believe the Victorian Labor government’s hard line, extreme and oppressive laws used to enforce vaccine mandates and lockdowns, as well as unquestioning submission to the most extreme elements of transgender ideology, meets the threshold for the inquiry’s definition of manipulative, coercive and harmful control tactics that cult and fringe groups employ,” Deeming said.
But the minister for equality, Vicki Ward, said the inquiry would not cover gender identity or healthcare, as the issues were outside its scope.
“This inquiry has been established to examine harmful and coercive groups, not target trans and gender diverse communities,” Ward said.
“In Victoria, equality is not negotiable. We will continue to fight discrimination and ensure all Victorians can live safely, wholly and freely as their authentic selves.”
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Deeming was expelled from the Liberal party room by the then leader John Pesutto in 2023 after neo-Nazis gatecrashed the Let Women Speak rally she helped organise. After successfully suing Pesutto for defamation last year, she was reinstated and Pesutto was ousted as leader.
In April, the new Liberal leader, Brad Battin, appointed Deeming as his “representative to the western suburbs”. But tensions have emerged between the duo over Battin’s involvement in a $1.5m loan to help Pesutto cover Deeming’s legal costs.
Ward said the document proved the Liberal party remained “divided” and said Battin faced a “test of leadership”.
Battin’s office was approached for comment and asked whether he was aware Deeming was distributing the document and whether it was appropriate to redirect the focus of the inquiry.
An opposition spokesperson responded that it was a matter for the inquiry’s committee.
“The inquiry should proceed with the terms of reference agreed to by the parliament,” they said.
The inquiry was established in April, after allegations of coercive practices at the Geelong Revival Church, as detailed in LiSTNR’s investigative podcast series Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder. The church has not publicly commented on the allegations contained in the podcast.
Led by the legislative assembly’s legal and social issues committee, it begins public hearings on Wednesday, with its first witnesses former members of the church and the podcast’s creator, journalist Richard Baker.
The committee’s chair, Labor MP Ella George, said the inquiry was “examining techniques being used by certain groups to attract and retain members and whether they amount to coercion that should be criminalised”.
She said the inquiry “does not focus on a group’s beliefs or ideology” and pointed to a guidance note on the committee’s website for more information.
It is understood the committee reviews all submissions to the inquiry, assessing their relevance according to the terms of reference before deciding whether to accept them. Only submissions that are accepted are published online.