Intersex Human Rights Australia

Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Bodhi Day, New Year, or the summer holidays, we’d like to wish you a happy end of 2023 and a joyful start to 2024.

We know that many people have had a difficult year, with international political events and local economic shifts that have profoundly impacted many of us. Even so, there are many significant successes that deserve celebration. For us at Intersex Human Rights Australia, 2023 has been an immense year. We’ve contributed to Australian-first law reform to protect the rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics in medical settings and the associated establishment of clinical psychosocial support program in the ACT, and expanded community-controlled psychosocial support via the InterLink program.

We have welcomed Bonnie Hart as deputy executive director and manager of InterLink, Natalie Hamam as InterLink’s mental health worker, and Aro Daha as our admin person. We have sadly said farewell to Cody Smith and Olympia Balopitos, and we thank them for their work. We would also like to thank outgoing director Agli Zavros-Orr for their contribution to our organisation.

Staff have contributed to policy development through formal engagement with the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care and other government departments; Australian Bureau of Statistics; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; Australian Human Rights Commission; the Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister’s and Health directorates; Canberra Health Services; the New South Wales Ministry of Health and associated institutions; the Queensland government; the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing; Victorian Department of Health; Universities of Sydney, Queensland, La Trobe, Western Australia, USQ, UNSW and The George Institute; and many more.

We’d like to thank all of our partners for their collaboration over the year, including Queensland Council for LGBTI Health, LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, A Gender Agenda and SHFPACT, Equality Australia, PIAC, Working It Out, and more.

• IHRA will be closed from 23 December to 7 January inclusive.
• The InterLink program will close from 23 December. It will re-open on 22 January for existing clients, and 30 January for new clients.

All our staff are part-time and their availability on work days will reflect this.