Queensland Women’s Office Removes ‘Gender’ References Amid Alleged ‘Dewokify’ Push

The Queensland Office for Women has stripped references to “gender equality” from its website, prompting claims that the LNP government is trying to “dewokify” public-service language.

A manager’s January email asked Queensland Office for Women staff to scan the agency’s website for the term “gender” and replace it, resulting in the deletion of over twenty mentions, such as the mission statement “We’re working towards a gender equal Queensland.” Former workers allege that Minister for Women Fiona Simpson considered the word “on the nose” and wanted it removed to avoid linking the Liberal National Party with LGBTIQA+ issues, a claim she called “utterly false.”

The revisions coincided with the launch of Queensland’s first Women’s Economic Security Strategy and a redesign that changed the site’s banner colour to blue and added the slogan “delivering for Queensland.” Opposition shadow minister Shannon Fentiman raised the issue in parliamentary estimates, receiving a response from director general Natalie Wilde that the changes were standard operational updates. The Centre for Public Integrity’s Geoffrey Watson SC criticized the use of party-aligned branding on government sites.