Australia’s far-left Sex Discrimination Commissioner has claimed she doesn’t know what a “biological man” is during a discussion in Senate Estimates.
Dr Anna Cody, who started in the role in September 2023 and earns a taxpayer-funded salary of $408,020, made the claim under questioning by Liberal senator Claire Chandler during the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on Tuesday.
Ms Chandler asked Dr Cody what she meant when she made a statement that “we are not one version of woman”, to which Dr Cody replied “there is a great diversity of who we are as women”, and listed a series of categories including so-called “transgender” and “non-binary” women.
Australia’s far-left Sex Discrimination Commissioner Dr Anna Cody, who earns a taxpayer-funded salary of $408,000 a year, claims she “doesn’t understand the term ‘biological men'”. pic.twitter.com/1vLzajRP3Q
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) October 8, 2025
“Did you mean that biological males can be women?” Ms Chandler asked.
“I think that we have different language that perhaps you’re using that I would use, so I don’t understand the term ‘biological men’,” Dr Cody replied.
“Does the Sex Discrimination Act protect the rights of women based on their sex?” Ms Chandler asked, to which Dr Cody said it did, and Ms Chandler asked how.
“So the Sex Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to treat someone less favourably on the basis of their sex, so, for example, not giving someone a job because they are a woman, or not giving them a promotion because they are a woman,” Dr Cody said.
“And just so I’m abundantly clear, you’re saying that the Sex Discrimination Act does protect the rights of biological females based on their sex?” Ms Chandler asked.
“So again I’ll change the language, protects ‘women’ from discrimination,” Dr Cody replied.
“But it doesn’t protect biological females is what you’re saying,” Ms Chandler said.
“It does not use the language of biological female, it uses man and woman,” Dr Cody said.
Ms Chandler went on to ask if the Act protected the provision of female single-sex spaces, and whether a male paedophile should be housed in a women’s prison in Victoria.
“Do you consider that this man, who is a child sex offender, is a woman?” she asked.
“The Sex Discrimination Act includes trans women within it, so the person I believe you’re referring to is a trans woman,” Dr Cody responded.
Dr Cody, who earlier this year complained about Queensland pausing hormone and puberty blockers for children, also said she didn’t know whether a person could change their biological sex because “I’m not a scientist”. pic.twitter.com/lRSayiXQnR
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) October 8, 2025
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts also questioned Dr Cody about the definition of biological sex, and asked whether a male with XY chromosomes could change to a female with XX chromosomes.
“I don’t believe so, but I’m not a scientist,” Dr Cody said.
“If a woman took a case to court today, Dr Cody, trying to stop a person with a penis who identified as a female going into a women’s bathroom, which side would you be arguing for?” Mr Roberts then asked.
“I would need to know more facts, I can’t make a judgement on that in particular,” Dr Cody said.
In January Dr Cody weighed in the the Queensland government’s decision to pause the prescription of hormones and puberty blockers for children due to their potentially harmful and irreversible effects, including sterilisation, claiming it would damage their mental health.
“This pause has the potential to harm the physical and mental wellbeing of children in Queensland who are currently awaiting care,” she said at the time.
“Trans and gender diverse children and young people should feel supported to affirm their gender by the adults in their lives and health care providers.”
The state government halted the use of the controversial “treatments” after it was revealed that rogue gender clinics were prescribing them to gender-confused children as young as 12.
Header image: Left, Dr Cody in the Senate on Tuesday. Right, Dr Cody in Victoria pushing radical gender ideology (Facebook).
