~ Inside Out Australia

Beyer's Trans-Pacific Plans

Local News, By Joal, 19th August, 2008

Former sex-worker, and the world’s first transsexual member of parliament, New Zealand’s Georgina Beyer says she plans to make a new life for herself in Australia.

Disillusioned with the complete lack of career opportunities since leaving New Zealand parliament in February 2007, Beyer says she will move to Australia to find work in December.

“It seems that I am not valued for my experience in either local or central government, so I guess I wasted 14 years of my life in publicly elected service and ended up unemployable,” says Beyer. “I have all this accumulated knowledge and experience and no one wants to employ it, and I’m not sure why.”

Beyer has admitted to having to rely on unemployment benefits for several months, despite many of her former Labour Party colleagues being appointed to boards by the currently Labour-led government.

“That I’m of no further use to my country is why I’m considering Australia… my former parliamentary colleagues seem not to want to appoint me to anything, but are quite happy to accommodate others who have left or are about to, so as to shut them up from whinging from the sidelines in [an] election year.”

Not lacking experience, Beyer has been a member of federal parliament, mayor of Carterton near Wellington, and a film, television and theatre performer. And the move in December won’t be her first visit to Australia – Beyer worked as a stripper and prostitute in Sydney in the eighties.

Beyer says she is still interested in a career in entertainment but that she felt too ‘tarnished’ as a former transsexual politician to be taken seriously – apart from in programs such as Dancing With The Stars, a program she took part in in New Zealand.

Although Beyer was re-elected as mayor to Carterton in 2000 with a 90% majority, and is an internationally renowned activist for LGBTI rights, it seems she is no longer feeling the love of her former colleagues and mentors, prompting the move to Australia.

In a typically articulate and rousing speech for Beyer, she congratulated New Zealand when she entered parliament in 1999:

“I can’t help but mention the number of firsts that are in this Parliament. Our first Rastafarian… our first Polynesian woman… and yes, I have to say it, I guess, I am the first transsexual in New Zealand to be standing in this House of Parliament. This is a first not only in New Zealand, ladies and gentlemen, but also in the world. This is an historic moment. We need to acknowledge that this country of ours leads the way in so many aspects. We have led the way for women getting the vote. We have led the way in the past, and I hope we will do so again in the future in social policy and certainly in human rights.”

Georgie Girl, a documentary about Beyer’s extraordinary life has won numerous awards around the world, including the audience award for best documentary at the Sydney Film Festival in 2002.