The Press Council considered whether its Standards of Practice were breached by an article published in the NT New and Cairns Post on 3 September 2022, headed “Woke world is wobbling” in print.
The article is an opinion piece in which the columnist stated that “In Britain, the gender fluidity clinic Tavistock was recently closed after an inquiry concluded allowing often confused and immature children to transition to another gender put them ‘at considerable risk’”.
The columnist said that “Over the past 10 years the Safe Schools program has told students Australian society is guilty of homophobia, transphobia and heteronormativity and the way to achieve sexual freedom is to embrace what Roz Ward describes as a world where ‘bodies can blossom in extraordinary, new and amazing ways that we can only try to imagine today’”. The article went on to comment that “Even worse, notwithstanding events surrounding Tavistock, in Victoria Chairman Dan has legislated to stop parents, priests and health professionals from counselling young people about the dangers and harmful consequences of taking puberty blockers.”
In response to complaints received, the Council asked the publication to comment on whether the article breached the applicable Standards of Practice requiring publications to take reasonable steps to ensure factual material is accurate and not misleading (General Principle 1), and to ensure factual material is presented with reasonable fairness and balance and writers’ expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts (General Principle 3).
The Council noted that the complaints had expressed concerns that the inquiry into the Tavistock clinic (The Cass Review), does not state the clinic was closed for the reasons expressed by the columnist and that the Safe Schools program does not say or imply that Australian society is guilty of homophobia, transphobia and heteronormativity or to embrace comments apparently made by Roz Ward. The complainants also noted they were unaware of any legislation that prevents parents, priests and health professionals from counselling young people about the dangers and harmful consequences of taking puberty blockers.
In response, the publication said the article is an opinion piece by a columnist who is a foremost authority on children’s education and social affairs affecting youth, who has chosen information from a variety of sources in support of his arguments. The publication referred the Council to a BBC article, headed “NHS to close Tavistock child gender identity clinic”, in relation to the comments concerning the Tavistock clinic, where Dr Cass, who undertook The Cass Review, mentioned risk as a reason the Tavistock clinic was closed.
The publication said that booklets associated with the Safe Schools program include glossaries of terms referred to by the columnist in the article where there is a clear implication society is characterised by heteronormativity that leads to homophobia. The publication said that one of the co-designers responsible for the Safe Schools program has also publicly made such comments. The publication said the relevant Victorian legislation that prevents counselling against gender transitioning is the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021.
Conclusion
The Council recognises that the article is clearly identified as an opinion piece and given the significant public interest of allowing freedom of expression, the Council takes the view that such articles are entitled to express robust and, at times, provocative views. Nonetheless, even in an opinion piece, the obligation is to take reasonable steps to ensure factual material is accurate and not misleading and expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts.
In regard to the comment that the Tavistock clinic was “closed after an inquiry concluded allowing often confused and immature children to transition to another gender put them ‘at considerable risk’”, the Council does not consider that there was anything in the material relied upon by the publication that substantiated this statement. The Council notes that the BBC article referred to by the publication states, referring to the independent review led by Dr Hilary Cass, “She said that the current model of care was leaving young people “at considerable risk” of poor mental health and distress, and having one clinic was “not a safe or viable long-term option”.”
The Cass Review, the subject of the BBC article, refers to the risk associated with the current model of care, “a single specialist provider model is not a safe or viable long-term option in view of concerns about lack of peer review and the ability to respond to the increasing demand”. The Cass Review, and the BBC article in turn, refer to the model of care at the Tavistock clinc as creating the risk, not the act of gender transition itself.
In regard to the columnist’s comments concerning Safe Schools, the Council also does not accept that there was anything in material relied upon by the publication, to assert that students are being told that Australian society is guilty of homophobia, transphobia and heteronormativity. The Council does not accept that explanatory words contained in a glossary of terms, nor the public comments of co-designer of Safe Schools referred to by the publication, support the columnist’s comments in relation to this statement.
In regard to the columnist’s comment that Victorian legislation prevents “parents, priests and health professionals from counselling young people about the dangers and harmful consequences of taking puberty blockers”, the Council notes that the publication did not refer to specific aspects of the legislation which contained such a prohibition and does not consider that there was anything in the material relied upon by the publication to substantiate this statement.
Accordingly, the Council concludes the publication failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the factual material in the article is accurate and not misleading, and that the columnist’s expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts in breach of General Principles 1 and 3.
Relevant Council Standards
This Adjudication applies the following General Principles of the Council.
Publications must take reasonable steps to:
1. Ensure that factual material in news reports and elsewhere is accurate and not misleading,and is distinguishable from other material such as opinion.
3. Ensure that factual material is presented with reasonable fairness and balance, and that writers’ expressions of opinion are not based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts.