NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages v Norrie

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal by the NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages against a decision of the Court of Appeal of New South Wales. The dispute concerned the Registrar's power under the *Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995* (NSW) to register a person's change of sex to "non-specific". The respondent, Norrie, had undergone a sex affirmation procedure and sought to have her sex registered as "non-specific", as she did not identify as either male or female.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the *Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995* (NSW) empowered the Registrar to register a person's sex as "non-specific". This involved interpreting the meaning of "change of sex" within the context of the Act and considering whether the Act assumed a binary classification of sex. The Tribunal had previously found that the Act was predicated on a male/female dichotomy and that the Registrar lacked the power to register a "non-specific" sex.

The High Court reasoned that the Act, particularly s 32J, provided that registration of sex was effective for the purposes of, but subject to, any law of New South Wales. While the Act did not explicitly define "change of sex" to include "non-specific", the Court found that the statutory scheme did not preclude such a registration. The Court noted that the Registrar had initially issued a certificate recording Norrie's sex as "not specified", which was later re-issued as "not stated" after the Registrar advised the certificate was invalid. The Court ultimately determined that the matter should be remitted to the Registrar for determination.

The High Court ordered that a specific part of the Court of Appeal's order be set aside and replaced with an order remitting the respondent's applications to the NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for determination in accordance with the Court's reasons. The appeal was otherwise dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the respondent's costs.