References to 'gender equality' have been removed from the Queensland Office for Women's website, with former staffers alleging the Liberal National party government sought to 'dewokify' the public service. An email from January reportedly tasked staff with scanning the website for the word 'gender' to 'reframe' it.
Web archives show six prominent references to 'gender equality' or 'gender equal' were removed from the Office for Women’s “About” page, including its mission statement. Comparisons of archived and live pages indicate more than 20 mentions of 'gender' were removed across the website, some in reference to the gender pay gap.
Former department staff claimed managers relayed that the minister for women, Fiona Simpson, deemed the word 'gender' to be 'on the nose' and 'loaded', and that it made the LNP think of the LGBTIQA+ community. One ex-employee stated they pushed back against the requests, questioning why 'gender' was being made a 'queer issue'.
In a statement, Simpson denied the claims, stating the website was recently updated for the launch of Queensland’s first Women’s Economic Security Strategy. She asserted the government is focused on backing Queensland women.
During parliamentary estimates, the shadow minister for women, Shannon Fentiman, questioned the department of women’s director general, Natalie Wilde, about the removals. Wilde responded that editorial changes are operational and managed at a business level through the strategic communication unit.
The website revamp also included changing its banner color from purple to blue and adding the slogan 'delivering for Queensland', both associated with the LNP brand. The Centre for Public Integrity director, Geoffrey Watson SC, has previously criticized such use of logos across government departments as politicizing the public service.