Australian documentary: Who decides?

[CassOle]

https://whodecidesfilm.com/

"WHO DECIDES? is a feature documentary exploring the growing national conversation in Australia surrounding the participation of transgender women in female-only spaces, alongside broader questions relating to education, healthcare and public policy.

As these issues increasingly move from sporting fields and schools into courtrooms, government inquiries and parliamentary debate, the film looks beyond the headlines to examine how competing rights, public policy and lived experience intersect. Through interviews with people holding a range of perspectives, alongside those directly affected, experts, advocates, journalists, legal professionals and policymakers, WHO DECIDES? seeks to foster a thoughtful exploration of one of Australia's most contested public conversations."

It will be forever a lost cause in Australia as we don't have the same anti egalitarian cultural influences as the UK does.

It's the way you tell 'em!

Nope, don't let biological facts get in the way of a convenient fantasy.

ie you have no answer.

I remember so many posters would be telling us that there was not enough public support to make changes here in the UK in 2019.

Because of Gillard’s amendment, and the most recent mess that was getting same sex marriage in law, it is going to be harder in Australia. However, the more the public learn what has happened, the greater the slide of support.

It really is ridiculous to see someone post with such prejudiced bias that it is all just ‘far right’ when we also have seen directly what happens when people do this. Women simply ignore those pointing to them as Nazis and get on and get the changes through.

Polarising the argument such as ‘you are all manipulated by Rupert, and are far right’ has never worked because people just laugh. It doesn’t work in most of Australia because, in my experience, many people are simply not into tribal politics as I have seen in the UK. So, like the extremists yelling ‘stop murdering trans people’ and ‘you are all Nazis’ that I have experienced when I go to rallies where mostly left wing women are speaking, those ridiculous claims really only seem to make the person making the accusations feel righteous. Everyone else just has the discussion and continues to campaign.

Telling people that everyone who disagrees is manipulated by Rupert and yelling that they are the genuine feminists and denying public polling is following the countries such as UK because those polling companies are all ‘right wing’ comes accross as shouting into the void. It must be saturday night’s entertainment looking at the lack of coherency in the arguments or even remembering what was said.

Hmm...man who cannot identify a downward trend when he sees it 🤔

I have noticed that the brethren do find all the polling from reputable firms to be very triggering. Hence the 'nighty night', which I read as 'please make it stop'.

Here is a screenshot to show how Australian unisex compartments should be designed. They are floor to ceiling in height (in contrast to single sex design) and the door has be openable outwards from the outside because of the known difficulty of trying to open the door when someone has collapsed behind the door.

https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/editions/2019-a1/ncc-2019-volume-one-amendment-1/section-f-health-and-amenity/part-f2-sanitary-and-dts

As with the U.K., the occupant in a single sex cubicle leading out into a single sex washroom environment does not have to be enclosed. They will have information about who is around them. The occupants in the washrooms know how many people are in the cubicle and crucially will know if they are in need of assistance. It can be shown that this design is not as attractive for misuse, as any misuse is more able to be witnessed.

That’s one reason Australia’s ‘inclusive’ policy change in provision (single sex to unisex) leads to a decrease in health and safety. For example, when people collapse, it will take much longer to notice and this will affect the outcome. I know it will because of all the evidence and real life incidents I have collated.

Does an Australian 'sanitary compartment' by definition include a basin? Or will women exiting the sanitary compartment in a unisex toilet find themselves washing their hands/mooncup/clothing next to men, in a chamber isolated from the rest of the building by another door?

These are also a very good questions!

Apologies long toilet design geek post time.

A sanitary compartment is not a definition we have here but in Australia: ‘Sanitary compartment means a room or space containing a closet pan or urinal’.
It could have a basin in or not. This is more of a ‘catch all’ definition. Your home bathroom will be a sanitary compartment if it contains a toilet (or urinal), but not if it doesn’t.

If you want to go down a rabbit hole about Australian toilets, look up these references. Just as in America, there’s been some very invested people discussing abolishing single sex toilets for years. I am not suggesting they do not care about health and safety but I am saying they have not looked at the health and safety implications of changing standard designs because I have read their work trying to work out their designs. They have not done risk assessments or impact assessments on all different demographics.

https://parlour.org.au/advocacy-and-action/all-gender-bathrooms-an-ncc-update/

This is a key person talking toilets back in 2018, who recently won a gender equity award:
https://architectureau.com/articles/simona-castricum-finding-a-place-for-empathy-in-architecture/

Here’s the lobbying
https://www.abcb.gov.au/sites/default/files/resources/2026/NCC%202025%20Volume%20One.pdf?_gl=11mj948e_gaNjcxNzY1MDQ0LjE3OTM0NDgyNjQ._ga_DE8H8SFX8R*czE3OTM0NjgzMDkkbzMkZzEkdDE3OTM0NzMyODMkajI4JGwwJGgw

This is where I noted their design was similar to the UKs universal design:

• Single access – All-gender amenities to be constructed as single occupant facilities containing a WC, handbasin and means of sanitary disposal, accessed from a non-gendered circulation space

However, this is the actual governments NCC document for this year which I have just looked at and it doesn’t make it clear. So I think it needs further investigation. Maybe the government haven’t thought about the safety implications of entrance/exit routes and why handbasins shouldn’t be shared.
https://www.abcb.gov.au/sites/default/files/resources/2026/NCC%202025%20Volume%20One.pdf?_gl=11mj948e_gaNjcxNzY1MDQ0LjE3OTM0NDgyNjQ._ga_DE8H8SFX8R*czE3OTM0NjgzMDkkbzMkZzEkdDE3OTM0NzMyODMkajI4JGwwJGgw

England’s Approved Document T says: ‘There should be no shared hand-washing facilities in corridors, circulation spaces or shared spaces outside universal toilets…
For good access and the safety of the users, universal toilets, with outward or inward opening doors, must open onto a well-lit corridor or circulation space.

There doesn’t seem to be such clear safeguards in the NCC document as far as I can see with a quick scan.

There has been a concerted effort to change designs for ‘inclusivity’ which prioritises individual privacy over collective safety.

@JellySaurus from F4D4
(13) For the purposes of this part, an all gender sanitary facility comprises 1 closet pan and 1 washbasin within the same
compartment

Still not sure about exits/entrances around unisex toilets.

If anyone is upset by ‘othering’ don’t read on:
Explanatory Information
All gender facilities provided under F4D4(12) are for the use of females, besides others.

There is also:
Not less than one washbasin must be provided where closet pans or urinals are provided.
Half a washbasin is not allowed.

And you be crossing your legs if your the third female to work in an all male workplace:
If the majority of employees are of one sex, not more than 2 employees of the other sex may share toilet facilities if the facilities are separated by means of walls, partitions and doors to afford privacy.

Even I am bored now. But in all honesty in shows how daft this is. If woman/man female/male have no biological meaning then designs, regulations, legislation have no meaning.

Thank you, KTS. You are an absolute heroine to dig through all this.

Frankly, I don't understand half of what those Australian regulations mean. Do they make it so obscure deliberately?