Emma and Amber discuss Victoria's Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act, which is currently under review by the Victorian Law Reform Commission. AAWAA supports the ban on gay conversion practices — but the evidence suggests the Act is producing serious unintended consequences in its application to gender identity. Clinicians are stepping back from treating gender-distressed young people. Parents face uncertainty about conversations with their own children. And same-sex attracted young people may be being steered away from the careful clinical exploration they need. Emma and Amber discuss what AAWAA submitted to the review, what the evidence shows, and what modest amendments could fix the problem without disturbing the law's core purpose.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

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Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

Equality Australia has been ruled an advocacy body, knocked back for standard charity tax status, and then rescued with a bespoke DGR deal, vice‑regal patronage and a shield of secrecy. In this episode, Emma and Liv unpack how Equality Australia used Thorne Harbour Health’s DGR status, how the Albanese government is now moving to write Equality Australia into the tax law, how the Governor‑General’s patronage is being cited in the Giggle v Tickle appeal, and how Senate rules swiftly protected the vice‑regal office from criticism. They then walk through AAWAA’s FOI battle with the Governor‑General’s office and the FOI watchdog, showing how section 6A and the Kline decision are being stretched to keep women from seeing whether the Patronage Policy was ever properly applied.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

In this episode Emma and Suzi unpack the NCC 2025 preview’s new ‘all‑gender’ toilet option and what it really means for women’s access to safe, adequate facilities in public buildings. Drawing on AAWAA’s 2024 submission to the Australian Building Codes Board, we explain how the change allows a ‘constructive reduction’ in female‑only toilets, why all‑gender cubicles do not replace women’s toilets in practice, and how sanitary bin rules still quietly assume sex‑based needs. We also examine the consultation process itself – where women’s groups engaged in detail but industry‑backed proposals prevailed – and outline what ministers, regulators, and listeners can do now to keep female‑only toilets on the agenda.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

Emma and Amber examine the CEDAW Committee’s advance observations on the Netherlands, asking what it means when a UN women’s rights body talks about “sex work”, “safe and legal workplaces, including home‑based sex work”, and even “minor sex workers”. They discuss how this language sits with CEDAW, CRC, Palermo and the 1949 Convention, why it signals institutional drift away from sex‑based protections and rights, and what an abolitionist, treaty‑consistent approach to prostitution and trafficking should look like—for the Netherlands and for Australia.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

Emma and Suzi examine the Auditor-General's comprehensive performance audit of age pension administration in light of evidence AAWAA submitted to the Australian National Audit Office one year earlier. The audit validates systemic failures – $5 billion in incorrect payments, processing delays up to 4.2 years, only 48.55 per cent of phone calls answered – but contains no sex-disaggregated analysis despite women constituting 55.55 per cent of recipients. They discuss specific cases of older women dismissed, delayed, doubted, and subjected to greater scrutiny than male counterparts, and why gender-neutral reform recommendations will fail to address how women experience administrative failures differently. Without making women visible in data and analysis, pension system reform will continue to assume a recipient who does not exist.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

Emma is joined by Megan to unpack a significant development for women's advocacy in Australia: a formal meeting between AAWAA, Feminist Legal Clinic, the Coalition of Activist Lesbians, and the Australian Human Rights Commission. They discuss why women's organisations pushed to meet with the President, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner and the Human Rights Commissioner; what they presented about Australia’s de facto sex and gender framework; and how concerns about female‑only spaces, lesbian‑only organising, and CEDAW‑compliant consultation were received. The episode explores ‘strategic patience’, section 11 inquiry powers, and what it means for womens groups to move from sending submissions to being recognised as stakeholders inside the national human rights body.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

Emma and Luci examine violence and discrimination affecting lesbian and bisexual women in Australia. They unpack how governance failures themselves constitute discrimination: the systematic exclusion of lesbian women from policy processes on sex self-identification laws, exemptions under discrimination law, and school policies. They detail the Lesbian Action Group's failed exemption application to the AHRC, institutional capture by LGBTIQ+ organisations claiming to represent lesbian interests, and how lesbians are denied the right to organise publicly as women – while gay men and transgender groups operate without obstruction. This is about fundamental human rights violations through governance failure.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

Emma and Lucy unpack violence against mothers – a form of sex-based harm that remains dangerously invisible in international policy. They examine three interconnected mechanisms: reproductive coercion, weaponisation of children against mothers, and systematic economic subordination through the motherhood penalty. They detail how institutional actors enable rather than prevent this violence, and outline comprehensive recommendations for legislative and policy reform to protect mothers' safety, autonomy, and economic security.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

Emma and Megan unpack the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 – a framework that criminalises organisational membership based on a vague "unacceptable risk" standard, without procedural fairness, and with a 72-hour consultation window. They examine the constitutional vulnerabilities: the absence of evidence that organisational criminalisation is necessary, the deliberate removal of procedural safeguards, the risk of retrospective criminalisation for lawful conduct, and the chilling effect on women's political advocacy. This is what happens when serious legislation meets broken process.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.

AAWAA's Christmas Wrap for 2025: Emma hosts Martine, Luci, and Suzi as they look back on a transformative year for AAWAA. They discuss coordinated national campaigns on sex self-ID and surrogacy prohibition, groundbreaking UN submissions on women's human rights, the 2025 federal election push to restore sex-based protections, international momentum against surrogacy, how we've built genuine cross-state collaboration on policy and strategy, and what it means to organise as feminists across Australia. Serious, strategic and upbeat – this is how to build a real movement.

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Donate

If you wish to donate to AAWAA you can do so by making a direct deposit or bank transfer to:

• Account name: Affiliation of Australian Women’s Advocacy Alliances
• Account number: 04201471
• BSB: 325-185

__

Disclosure statement

Voices in this podcast are AI-generated clones of real, named AAWAA members, created and used with their informed consent to help amplify women's words and stories. All scripts and spoken content are written by AAWAA women, and all editorial judgement, fact-checking, and production decisions remain entirely human. AI is used only to voice this content: never to generate, alter, or invent what is said. Learn more at womensadvocacy.net.

This podcast provides general information and opinion only and does not constitute legal advice. Listeners should seek independent, professional legal advice before acting on any matters discussed. The hosts and AAWAA accept no liability for decisions made based on this content.