To Alan Tudge, Minister for Human Services;

We, the undersigned, call on the Department of Human Services to immediately implement the 2013 guidelines recognising non-binary and gender diverse people.

Centrelink is threatening to kick non-binary and gender diverse students off Youth Allowance payments because their software only records 'male' or 'female'.

Many Australian universities now allow students to record their gender as 'unspecified' or 'other' - but students who have taken this option have been repeatedly asked to confirm their enrolment as Centrelink can't match their details with their university.

According to the Australian Government Guidelines released in 2013, “where sex and/or gender information is collected … individuals should be given the option to select M (male), F (female) or X (Indeterminate/Intersex/Unspecified).”

All Government departments were supposed to have adopted these practices by 1 July 2016. Many already have. Yet Centrelink still hasn't updated their software to make this possible.

This is massive attack on low-SES trans and gender diverse students who already struggle to pay rent and access services. Many of these students might not have a family to support them if something goes wrong.

We demand non-binary and gender diverse students stop being denied welfare simply for existing!