Tasmania is expected to become the first jurisdiction in Australia to make the inclusion of a child's sex on birth certificates optional, after the state's Lower House voted narrowly in favour of the reforms.

Key points: Liberal Sue Hickey sided with Labor and Greens to get landmark gender reforms passed

Liberal Sue Hickey sided with Labor and Greens to get landmark gender reforms passed The new laws include making it optional for a child's sex to be recorded on their birth certificate

The new laws include making it optional for a child's sex to be recorded on their birth certificate Ms Hickey says the bill will not affect 98 per cent of Tasmanians

The Government was seeking to update the marriage act by removing the requirement for people to divorce if they changed gender to recognise same-sex marriage.

But Labor and the Greens seized the opportunity to attach nine amendments to the bill.

All nine amendments were aimed at removing the discrimination of transgender and intersex people in the Births, Deaths and Marriage Act, and all passed with the casting vote of Liberal Speaker Sue Hickey.

The rest of the Liberal Government voted against the reforms.

Government minister Michael Ferguson today likened removing gender from birth certificates to conducting social experiments on children.

"Tasmanian parents will be disgusted that the Labor and Greens parties are doing social experiments on their kids and taking their sex off their birth certificates," he said.

Liberal Hickey blasts colleagues' comments

But Ms Hickey fired back at her Liberal colleagues, both state and federally, and what she described as the "extreme right" of her party.

"People have to realise the Liberal Party has a very strong, right-wing Christian element, and I would hope that I can give hope to people with Liberal values that you can be a Liberal without necessarily being extreme right," she said.

She rejected the comments of Michael Ferguson as something "we should be stamping out".

"It's disappointing … that kind of stuff that has been very disappointing to the transgender community," she said.

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Ms Hickey said Prime Minister Scott Morrison — who said the plan to "remove gender from birth certificates" in Tasmania was "ridiculous" — was wrong and "making judgement on the run".

"The man should have done his homework, should have rung up and got the facts, should have seen what the legislation does," she said.

"To be making a judgement on the run is ridiculous."

But Ms Hickey denied her decision to vote against her party again called into question of the stability of Premier Will's Hodgman one-seat majority Government.

Advocates want laws to go further

Representatives of the transgender community watched on as Parliament debated the changes late into the night.

Cheers rang out following the final vote to pass the amended bill through the House, as Labor and Greens MPs hugged in celebration.

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The historic changes, which include allowing parents to choose whether their child's gender is recorded on birth certificates, will need the support of the independent-dominated Upper House to become law.

The sex of the child would still be recorded on medical records.

"The parents of a child aged under 16 years whose birth is registered in the state may apply to the registrar, in a form approved by the registrar, for inclusion of gender information under Section 50 of this Act," the passed amendments state.

The laws also state a child of 16 would need the support of a parent or guardian to apply to the registrar to include, change or delete gender on their birth certificates.

A child under the age of 16 who does not have the support of a parent or guardian would need the approval of a magistrate.

People over the age of 16 would need to supply a statutory declaration to the registrar.

Under the amendments, the requirement for transgender people to have sexual reassignment surgery in order to have their new gender recognised would be removed, as has been in South Australia and the ACT.

Legally, gender identity in the state would be recognised as "gender expression", including "any personal physical expression, appearance (whether by way of medical intervention or not), speech, mannerisms, behavioural patterns, names and personal references that manifest or express gender or gender identity".

The moves follows changes to passports in 2011 that allow people to state if they identify as male, female or other.

In the ACT, birth certificates list "M", "F'' or "X".

But advocates said the Tasmanian laws would go even further, giving people the option to remove gender designations entirely from the legal document — leaving the space blank.

The argument is that removing any reference to sex or gender on the document would, for example, mean a parent who had an intersex baby would not have to choose a gender to be recorded.

'This sets the standard for the country'

Tasmania has shrugged off its discriminatory past, says Ms Delaney. ( ABC News: Janek Frankowski )

Transgender activist Martine Delaney, who is part of the lobby group Transforming Tasmania, said the passing of the amendments signalled victory at the end of a 14-year battle for reform.

"It means the trans and gender-diverse people in Tasmania will be on a level playing field when it comes to everyday life," she said.

Ms Delaney said the historic moment was further proof that Tasmania, which was the last jurisdiction to decriminalise homosexuality and cross-dressing, had cast aside its past.

She said the reforms were nation-leading.

"This is setting a standard for the country, this is setting a standard for the region," Ms Delaney said.

Greens leader Cassy O'Connor, whose son Jasper Lees has led the charge for the law reforms, said it was a great day in Tasmania's Parliament.

"A win for democracy, an inclusive and fair Tasmania. Ultimately this reform is for transgender and intersex Tasmanians and all the people who love them," she wrote on social media.

Shadow Attorney-General Ella Haddad, who had backed away from making it compulsory to remove gender from birth certificates, said she agreed with the changes.

"The changes we have made are absolutely core Labor values — equality, a reduction in discrimination and for fairness and equal treatment before the law," she said.

The amendments were pushed through, along with removing the requirement for people to divorce if they changed gender.

Ms Haddad said she was confident the changes would get through the Legislative Council.

In a statement, Attorney-General Elise Archer said the State Government, which wanted to refer changes to gender recognition to the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute to examine, strongly opposed the passed amendments.

"Make no mistake, this amended bill contains legally untested, unconsulted and highly problematic changes that we could not support," she said in a statement.

"The deeply flawed amendments to the bill demonstrate once again that Labor is captured by the left, so much so that they are almost indistinguishable from the Greens."

Australian Christian Lobby state director for Tasmania Mark Brown said the amendments could have "unintended consequences".

"There has been no community consultation and these amendments have been rammed through without any consideration of the unintended consequences they may have."

In a statement, Catholic Archbishop of Hobart Julian Porteous said he was "deeply concerned about the impact the legislation will have, not only on religious freedom, but on general freedoms in our society".