Prime minister ‘mystified’ by policy and guidelines for community cricket to allow players to compete in line with gender identity

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Scott Morrison has criticised a Cricket Australia decision to release a policy which aims to allow transgender and gender-diverse people to play the sport at the highest level and guidelines for community cricket as “heavy-handed” and “mystifying”.

The sport’s national governing body has released an elite-level policy and guidelines for community cricket that allows players to compete in line with their gender identity, rather than the sex they were born with.

But the prime minister said he believed local sport should be driven by community clubs.

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“I think it’s pretty heavy-handed – to put it pretty mildly,” he told 2GB Radio on Friday.

“There are far more practical ways to handle these issues than these heavy mandatory ways of doing it, and I’m sure these issues have [been] quite carefully and practically managed at a club level already.

“So why there’s a necessity to get the sledgehammer out on this is mystifying me, but I think we need to get the issue in perspective and ensure we manage it calmly.”

His comments came after an article in the Australian newspaper on Friday stating that “mums and dads who run suburban and country cricket clubs could be prosecuted” under discrimination laws for failing to comply.

However, the policy was welcomed this week by the former Australian women’s captain, Alex Blackwell, who told the ABC the team was consulted on the changes and she hoped to see more transgender players engage with the sport at all levels.

“I benefited so much from sport in elite teams [and] I don’t think trans and gender diverse people should be excluded from that,” Blackwell said.

In announcing the policy on Thursday, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, Kevin Roberts, said transgender and gender diverse players will be supported to participate in top-flight cricket, subject to certain criteria.

Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) Today we take a major step to ensure inclusiveness is at the heart of Australian Cricket.



Learn more about the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in the game: https://t.co/XbewXwazH4#ASportForAll pic.twitter.com/cRlM2TKx21

Those looking to compete in the female-elite category must demonstrate a concentration of testosterone in serum less than 10 nanomoles a litre continuously for 12 months or more.

“Discrimination of any sort has no place in the game,” Roberts said.

Erica James, a transgender cricketer, told the Nine newspapers there were flaws with using testosterone levels as a benchmark but said the policy was nevertheless a “huge step forward”.

Roberts said the Australian policy closely matched the International Cricket Council’s eligibility on the basis of gender recognition.

He also said the guidelines for grassroots level cricket would help clubs, players, administrators, coaches and other volunteers deliver a “safe, welcoming and inclusive environment, free of harassment and discrimination for gender diverse players”.