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Government orders Sport NZ to scrap transgender inclusive community sport guidelines
Sport NZ is ditching its guidelines for the inclusion of transgender people in community sport, after direction from the government.
It has also removed the document, which the government originally asked it to review and update, from its website.
Labour has labelled the decision a step backwards, and is questioning why the position changed from updating the principles to removing them entirely.
First published in 2022, the document asked sporting bodies to consider a set of “guiding principles” to make participating in community sport more inclusive for transgender people.
But last October, then-minister for sport Chris Bishop said sporting bodies were “grappling with a tricky issue,” and asked Sport NZ to review and update the principles.
Former Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
National’s coalition with New Zealand First contains a commitment to “ensure publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not compromised by rules relating to gender”.
In 2023, New Zealand First campaigned on making any publicly funded sporting body “that does not have an exclusive biological female category, where ordinarily appropriate” ineligible for public funding.
Announcing the review, Bishop said the principles did “not reflect legitimate community expectations that sport at a community level should not just be focused on diversity, inclusion, and equity, but also prioritise fairness and safety”.
The completed review was handed over to Bishop’s successor Mark Mitchell.
Rather than an update, the government has now told Sport NZ to stop all work on the guiding principles and remove them altogether.
“After considering the review, the government has informed Sport NZ that it should not be involved in publishing guidelines related to gender in sport,” said Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle.
“Sporting organisations will continue to make their own decisions on the participation of transgender people in community sport and there are a range of expert organisations that can provide support,” she said.
Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle. Photo: Photosport / Andrew Cornaga
Earlier this month, the Save Women’s Sport Australasia group published an open letter to Mitchell, urging him to “dump” the guidelines.
“Their continued existence creates unnecessary conflict for national sporting bodies, particularly those reliant on Sport NZ funding, who may feel pressured to adopt these guidelines despite their misalignment with international federation policies,” the letter said.
The group previously met with Bishop and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, in the weeks leading up to the announcement of the review.
Labour’s rainbow issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert said removing the principles was a step backwards, and the government was kicking people while they were down.
“It’s about enabling organisations to keep people safe, to support people, and most of all create inclusive environments. But here we have the government removing and excluding people from playing sport, and that’s not acceptable,” he said.
He said there was no evidence for removing the guidelines, and Sport NZ had not raised any issues with them.
“Sport NZ has always advocated for the inclusion of trans people in sport, no matter what age they are. We want people to be involved, we want all New Zealanders to be playing sport. Most of all, we don’t want people excluded and I don’t think that’s what New Zealanders expect either.”
He questioned whether there was a “political trade-off” with New Zealand First in order to remove the principles, instead of update them.
“Sport NZ, they did want inclusivity, and I absolutely agree with that. Why has that position changed?”
Labour’s rainbow issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
What were the principles?
The “overarching principle” of the document was inclusion.
“Every New Zealander has the right to participate in Sport and to be treated with respect, empathy and positive regard. Transgender people can take part in sports in the gender they identify with,” the document said.
The guiding principles were based around:
- Wellbeing and safety
- Privacy and dignity
- Anti-discrimination, anti-bullying, and anti-harassment
- Listening and responding
- Education
Each principle had its own series of suggestions, such as providing private spaces in bathrooms, using gender-inclusive language, and establishing robust anti-harassment codes of conduct.
The principles were not mandatory and were not rules or criteria, as Sport NZ noted it would not be possible to provide a one-size-fits-all approach across every code.
The guiding principles did have a section on safety, noting “the gender identity of a player does not create a danger or risk to safety” and “transgender players, as with all cisgender players, are diverse and varied in their height, weight, strength and stamina”.
It said mismatches or significant disparities may contribute a risk to safety, depending on the sport, but various sports had age and weight restrictions to reduce mismatches or any subsequent injuries that may arise.
RNZ has approached Mark Mitchell for comment.
rnz
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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