One Nation senator Tyron Whitten has claimed parents supporting their children who identify as transgender are engaging in \u201cchild abuse\u201d, telling a fringe YouTube show: \u201cthere\u2019s male, there\u2019s female, and then there\u2019s mental illness\u201d.<\/p>\n
Guardian Australia has unearthed several incendiary comments from Whitten and fellow One Nation senators Pauline Hanson<\/a> and her longtime lieutenant Malcolm Roberts, about transgender Australians.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re saying you can cut your dick off and become a woman \u2026 That\u2019s a complete distortion of science,\u201d Roberts told a podcast in June.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n Whitten filmed an interview at Parliament House in August 2025 with a YouTube page called \u201cBillboard Battalion\u201d. The host recounts overhearing a Parliament House attendant escorting a group of schoolchildren.<\/p>\n \u201cShe turned around and said to me \u2018thanks very much for your patience\u2019, and I said, \u2018thanks very much for calling them boys and girls\u2019\u2026 when I was a young bloke, I never ever thought that would be a thing,\u201d the host said.<\/p>\n Whitten responded: \u201cNeither did I. Look, there\u2019s male, there\u2019s female, and then there\u2019s mental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to wear a dress, that\u2019s fine. I don\u2019t care. But they can\u2019t keep saying \u2018hey kids, that\u2019s normal.\u2019 Well, no, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to be a boy or you\u2019re going to be a girl. And parents that are promoting this, I think that\u2019s child abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n The Australian Human Rights Commission cites<\/a> statistics that \u201caround 2-3% of young Australians aged 11 to 18 years identify as transgender or gender diverse.\u201d<\/p>\n Referencing research from youth advocacy group Minus18, the AHRC said \u201c9 in 10 LGBTQIA+ young people said they had faced bullying or violence because of who they are, leaving many feeling isolated and unsupported.\u201d<\/p>\n The offices of Whitten, Hanson and One Nation\u2019s head office were contacted for response but did not respond to inquiries.<\/p>\n Roberts, whose previous comments on fringe podcasts about immigration<\/a> and conspiracy theories have drawn controversy<\/a>, in June was dismissive of transgender Australians in a YouTube interview.<\/p>\n Discussing problems he saw in Australia, Roberts said: \u201cIf you cut off your dick \u2026 you\u2019re not a woman. [But] that\u2019s now ingrained in law in Australia that you are.<\/p>\n \u201cNot as crudely as that, but it just says that if you want to identify as a male, if you want to identify as a female and you\u2019re a male, that\u2019s your choice.\u201d<\/p>\n In a March 2024 interview with former television host and AFL identity Sam Newman, Hanson \u2013 listing a number of her political concerns \u2013 mentioned \u201cthis transgender crap that\u2019s going on, it frustrates me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re allowing children under the age of 18 to have lifechanging operations that destroy their lives, ending up like vegetables, just destroyed, locked away in their bedrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n