Is Australia Going to Introduce 33 Different Genders on Passports?

"Australia is preparing to introduce at least 33 different gender options on birth certificates and passports, as part of a new anti-discrimination policy."

On 29 November 2018, the junk news site News Punch (formerly Your News Wire) published an article reporting that Australia was on the verge of placing “33 genders on passports” for citizens to choose from. The story began circulating again on social media in late March 2019, prompting readers to ask if it was true. It is not.

According to News Punch’s story, “Australia is preparing to introduce at least 33 different gender options on birth certificates and passports, as part of a new anti-discrimination policy. The Australian Labor Party have drafted the initial proposal, which includes options such as omnigender, neutrios and demigender.”

The News Punch report was the result of a game of telephone, based on a source that was unreliable to begin with. The report was aggregated from a 26 November 2018 story published by the Daily Mail, which in turn was based on an article published by Australia’s Daily Telegraph, the latter of which has apparently since been deleted. (We sent an email to the Daily Telegraph asking whether it was deleted, and why, but we have not received a response.)

We found no legitimate news outlets reporting that Australia was on the precipice of introducing 33 new genders for citizens to choose from on government forms and documents. Instead, in November 2018 the Australian Labor Party (the center-left opposition party) drafted a proposal to remove gender from birth certificates and passports altogether — a proposal that was slapped down by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The News Punch story was published in the lead-up to the Labor Party’s 18 December 2018 annual conference. Although the party’s platform made reference to ensuring social equality for people who fell outside binary gender identities, the platform didn’t refer to 33 distinct genders, nor did it mention “omnigender, neutrios and demigender.”

The idea of “33 genders” probably originated with a 2016 survey conducted by the Queensland University of Technology, which offered respondents 33 different choices to answer the question, “Which of the following terms do you feel best describes your gender?” Omnigender, neutrois (not neutrios, as misspelled by NewsPunch) and demigender were among those options. (The possible responses were not all distinctly different genders: for example, some of them were descriptive terms for gender in general, and some of them were duplicative terms for expressing the same gender concept.)

Fear-mongering over changing social norms in regards to gender was also the focus of a January 2019 false rumor spread by various websites that California was going implement a curriculum to teach students that were 15 different genders.

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AUSTRALIAN CITY MOVES TO BAN CONTROVERSIAL TOURISM SLOGAN

The travel industry is no stranger to ridiculous tourism slogans – but one has been deemed so offensive that one city council has moved to ban it.

Darwin City Council this week voted to ban products adorned with “CU in the NT”, the unofficial slogan of the Northern Territory in Australia, from being sold at local markets.

The group behind the unofficial campaign, NT Unofficial, launched the slogan in 2016 with the tagline: “The Top End. Different from the bottom end.” The campaign, to promote awareness of the Australian state, soon went viral.

As well as promoting the Northern Territory via its website and social media, the group sells a wide range of merchandise emblazoned with the slogan, including t-shirts, flip-flops and hats.

The motion to ban the products from sale at public markets in Darwin was passed by council officials this week, according to local media, who labelled the slogan immature and offensive.

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Tourism Australia has issued a tender for public relations services in China.

Tourism Australia has issued a tender for public relations services in China.

The tender includes two service components, and agencies may participate in only one. The first encompasses: strategic PR programs, media relations and publicity, content and editorial, hosting programs, influencer programs, social media, brand and reputation management, and business events.

The second service component is for social media only.

The length of contract will be 24 months from August 1, 2019, to July 30, 2021, with an option to extend for another 12 months.

The tender is set to close on April 8, according to search documents. Shortlisted agencies will be notified on May 20. Presentations will take place from June 10 to 14, and the final decision will be announced on July 12. 

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Premier Mark McGowan backs tourism claims, calling Perth ‘natural gateway’ to Australia

Premier Mark McGowan has backed in his tourism minister by calling Perth the “natural gateway” to Australia, as the government distances itself from the common adage about WA’s capital being the most isolated city on the planet.

Tourism minister Paul Papalia decreed the view of Perth being the world’s most remote city as “outdated” and had a dig at Federal tourism authorities for not giving WA a fair share of tourism campaigns compared to the east coast.

Mr McGowan said WA was far closer to Asia than the eastern states.

“I think what the tourism minister is trying to say is that we need to promote ourselves as a gateway into Australia for tourists in particular from Asia and other parts of the world,” he said.

“If you want to fly direct from London you can fly to Perth, we’re closer than Sydney or Melbourne if you want to come in to Australia from Japan or China or from India it’s far easier to come in via Perth.

“We’re the natural gateway to Australia for many of our tourists and that’s what we’re trying to promote around the world.”

Mr McGowan talked up the tourism capabilities of the recreational fishing industry at an event hosted by peak body RecFishWest this morning.

“What we want to do is promote this opportunity around Australia and potentially around the world as something where you can come and have a great experience and have a great fun time and you can have a great holiday in WA,” he said.

“Paul Papalia is currently in India seeking direct flights out of India, we are doing everything we can to enhance our tourism industry and recreational fishing is part of that.”

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King-sized sun blunder in Federal tourism campaign for WA

An embarrassing blunder in material to be used in a Federal tourism campaign — where a couple are pictured at Kings Park watching the sun set in the east — will be corrected before it is distributed.

The image is part of a campaign to be launched today by Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham to lure Brits to Australia by showcasing lesser-known and relatively untapped tourist spots.

When alerted to the mistake by The West Australian — the sun sets in the west — a spokesman for Tourism Australia said it would be fixed before it was released on social media.

The UnDiscover Australia campaign will feature several images of WA destinations.

But WA Tourism Minister Paul Papalia said WA was being left out of too many east coast-centric tourism campaigns. He will raise the imbalance when he meets Mr Birmingham in Launceston this morning.

“The east coast has experienced a tourism boom, which is understandable given the profile and attention Sydney and its neighbouring cities receive when the Federal Government markets our country to the world,” Mr Papalia said. “WA does not benefit in the slightest from those east coast-centric marketing campaigns.

“We are now calling on our Federal counterparts on both sides of politics to ensure WA is given a comparable amount of market time.

“We are the western gateway to the country and as air space and accommodation reach capacity in Sydney and Melbourne, Perth and our beautiful regions will help Tourism Australia continue to grow visitor numbers.

“Now is the time to invest in tourism in our great State.”

Mr Birmingham rejected the suggestion WA was ignored, citing the UnDiscover Australia campaign as another example where WA was featured.

“We already see more than 149,000 British travellers head to WA each year, injecting more than $277 million into the local economy,” he said. “But we think there is huge potential to expand the tourism appeal of WA through this campaign.

“The more British tourists we can lure to WA the more cash they will splash in local businesses which helps to boost the economy and create more local jobs.

“Australia has a strong reputation with British travellers as a beautiful destination with friendly people, however we must continue to expand our appeal.

“This campaign is about showing prospective travellers that Australia has even more to offer than the Reef, the Rock and the Bridge.”

Britain is the latest market to be targeted in the UnDiscover Australia campaign. The original focus was a$10 million campaign in India, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, with Japan later.

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Qantas announces plans for new direct international flights from Australia's east coas

Less time in the air means more time to get out and explore the world. For Aussie’s wishing to explore Europe and the United States, travel time could soon be cut significantly.

Qantas has announced plans for new direct flights from Australia’s east coast to destinations like London and New York, which we could see hitting the skies from early as 2022. Watch the full clip 

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“If the business case works, the aircraft will arrive in 2022,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told 9News. (iStock)

The airline is looking at the Boeing 797 to replace their fleet of domestic 737 aircraft – but as the 797 is yet to be confirmed, Qantas is cautious to lock in a final decision.

Currently, Qantas is on the hunt for the perfect aircraft to directly link Australia’s east coast with Europe and the United States.

“If the business case works, the aircraft will arrive in 2022,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told 9News. 

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Study Abroad: Trying travel, cuddling koalas in Australia

Studying abroad is an opportunity that not many students take advantage of in college; on average, less than 10 percent of students study abroad. But for communication major senior Kaci Snyder, studying abroad turned into an amazing opportunity.

Snyder went to Australia during the spring 2018 semester and came back with a new sense of confidence. Studying abroad and exploring Australia was something that Snyder had always wanted to do. 

“I took a surf lesson there, which I thought was so cool,” Snyder said. “My campus was on a nature preserve, so there were kangaroos all over the place. I was also just meeting people from all over the world all the time.” 

Snyder also spoke on how different Australian classroom experiences were compared to those at Geneseo. 

“For my science class, we traveled to this island and stayed there for two nights,” Snyder said. “We were learning about how the sand dunes affect different types of birds’ lives. It was cool to be able to travel to another island for free with the school because we can’t do that here.”

At times, Snyder traveled completely by herself. Solo travel allowed Snyder to challenge herself, meet new people and gain independence. Meeting people from all over the world opened up her mind to new perspectives. 

She explained that the process to go abroad was very long and that she began filling out all of the paperwork in September, about four months before she left. Most of the work she had to do included doing paper paperwork, writing a letter about why she wanted to go and retrieving letters of recommendation.

Snyder also felt that Geneseo helped her answer the questions that she had. She said that it was very stressful and that there were many things she didn’t know how to do, but the study abroad office really helped.  

“The study abroad office was really involved,” Snyder said. “I had a bunch of questions, as it was really confusing at times. I would just go there and they were really helpful.”

Snyder advises students who want to study abroad to save up as much money as they can. She believes it is an opportunity everyone should take, as many people regret not doing it in college.  She illustrates that she gained a lot of confidence and independence by going and that anyone else who goes will gain these attributes as well.

“I think it’s 100 percent worth it, no matter where you go,” Snyder said.

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