(ZENIT News / Camberra, 10. 29, 2025) – According to the Australian Associated Press, a Northern Territory in Australia has banned men who identify as women from being in biological women’s prisons after several female prisoners were assaulted by some of them while incarcerated.
Lia Finocchiaro, the First Minister of the Northern Territory established the rule on October 13. It is the first territory in Australia to take a step toward protecting women from predatory men in prisons: «There should be no men in women’s prisons, period,» Finocchiaroi told The Australian. «I can tell you now that here in the Northern Territory there are no men in women’s prisons and we’re not going to have that here, not under my supervision.»
The announcement came just days after Katie, an inmate, was sexually assaulted by her transgender cellmate, Krista Richards (in a South Australian prison), who was pretending to be a woman, according to Thewing. The First Minister of the Northern Territory commented: «If you are born male, you go to a men’s prison. At the end of the day, it’s really about the safety of women. It’s about the dignity of women.»
Furthermore, Autumn Tulip Harper, a 26-year-old convicted paedophile, who was assigned to a women’s prison in Victoria, after being found guilty of abusing his five-year-old daughter, was sentenced and transferred to a women’s prison in September after claiming to be transgender and abusing his cellmate.
The two cases have outraged the entire country and increased demands for greater protection for women by lawyers and the Australian Women’s Forum, who called on the First Ministers and the country’s Prime Minister, Antony Albanese, to protect female prisoners from male inmates posing as women.
Trans activists criticized the Forum and Finocchiaro, pointing out that men who transition are more likely to be violent and that the arguments against them are discriminatory, inaccurate, and fuel hatred.
Alastair Laurie, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Justice and Equity, also said that the decision to house trans women in men’s prisons was wrong. Prisoners should be housed in correctional facilities that match their gender identity. «Trans women are women and should be in women’s prisons.»
Finocchiaro condemned Australia’s current policies for failing to protect women: «Women must be protected, both inside and outside of prison. That’s not rocket science, and some people have forgotten why they’re there. And some people have made life much more complicated than it needs to be. It’s about people’s fundamental right to be safe. And it doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.»
