The landmark Giggle v Tickle appeal judgment, handed down earlier in May by the Federal Court, has resulted in a surge of campaigning by conservative parties.
The judgment found that a female-only app 'Giggle for Girls' was wrong to exclude transgender woman Roxanne Tickle under discrimination law.
The next day, Liberal leader Angus Taylor announced a policy to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to allow for cisgendered women to exclude trans women from gatherings.
"We will define biological sex in the act. Male or female. The sex you are born. And we will protect single-sex spaces across Australian life," he said.
A revved-up Liberal senator Michaelia Cash declared the "law is an ass" after a string of pointed questions to Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody during parliamentary hearings on the federal budget.
She began her questioning by asking Human Rights Commission President Hugh de Kretser "what is a woman?"
"An adult human female, and that includes transgender women," he responded.
"The court has said that the definition of sex was intended by this parliament to not be binary and not be immutable, so that someone under state and territory law, under identification law, can change their sex."
Senator Cash repeatedly asked whether "a man can put on a dress and declare themselves a woman", but Dr Cody suggested the Sex Discrimination Act would likely not recognise them as such.
Dr Cody said the judgment made clear it "takes into account biology and physical characteristics, (and) someone's social recognition and their presentation of themselves".
The commission has argued for the human rights of all Australians, whether trans or otherwise.
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts also joined the fray, arguing the Human Rights Commission was not a neutral party when it presented evidence to the Giggle v Tickle case.
The commission made a "amicus curiae" submission to the court on how to interpret the act, without siding with either party.
Several times, committee chair Labor senator Jana Stewart intervened to bring down the temperature of the debate during a heated hour of questioning.
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