The Australian Senate has voted for a motion that sought to ban gender neutral language from official documents and policy.
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts introduced the motion this week in the Upper House and argued terms like chestfeeding and non-gestational parent shouldn't be adopted.
The Morrison government backed the proposal, with Tasmanian Liberal Senator Jonathon Duniam announcing the party's position before the vote went ahead.
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"The government supports the rights of individuals to make use of any pronouns or descriptors they prefer, while encouraging respect for the preferences of others," he said.
"The government will use language in communications that is appropriate for the purpose of those communications and is respectful of its audiences."
The motion resulted in a narrow victory of 33 votes affirmative and 31 negative.
Mr Roberts was prompted to introduce the motion after institutions in Australia and around the world broadened their language to make it more inclusive.
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He called on the federal government to 'reject the use of distorted language such as gestational/non-gestational parent, chestfeeding, human milk, lactating parent, menstruators, birthing/ non-birthing parent'.
Mr Roberts also wanted to 'ensure all federal government and federal government funded agencies do not include these terms in their material, including legislation, websites, employee documentation and training materials'.
The MP argued our world is dominated by gendered terms and even alleged there are kids in Queensland who are scared and stressed they will use the wrong gender when talking to their peers.
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He added that our fundamental biology and relationships are represented in things like mother vs father, male vs female, brother vs sister.
But the motion's success in the Senate has come under attack by the Greens, with Senator Janet Rice not holding back her opinion on the matter.
"I expect this s**t from One Nation," she wrote on Twitter, "But the Morrison Government just voted to support One Nation's disgusting, bigoted Senate motion trying to deny the identity of trans & non binary people. So the motion passed. What happened to governing for all Australians? Scumbags!"
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Australia