The Victorian Government gave more than $100,000 to a trans prison program which helped a paedophile dad who molested his daughter serve his jail term in the relative safety of a women's prison.
The taxpayer-funded grant came less than three weeks before Autumn Tulip Harper was sentenced to jail in Victoria's female maximum security prison, the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.
Jacinta Allan's government announced it had allocated a further $30,000 on top of the $75,000 it had given to trans organisation Flat Out and its 'Beyond Bricks and Bars' program on August 7 last year.
Harper, not their birth name, who is also known by their court-issued pseudonym 'Hilary Maloney' to protect the identity of their victim, was jailed on August 26.
At their pre-sentence hearing, Witt Gorrie, the coordinator of Beyond Bricks and Bars, wrote a report for Harper which was highlighted by Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis as Harper was sentenced to a minimum 30-month jail term.
'I accept that Mr Gorrie has the expertise and experience to give evidence on these issues and his evidence was not challenged,' Judge Karapanagiotidis said.
'The report indicates that all trans women who enter the women's system are placed in solitary confinement upon reception and remain there for anywhere from five weeks to their entire prison sentence.
'Placement in long-term solitary confinement is restrictive and has significant impacts on a person's mental health.
Autumn Tulip Harper was jailed for molesting their daughter
Harper before his transformation
Witt Gorrie wrote a report for court which was relied on by Harper
'In Mr Gorrie's experience in working with trans women in the prison system, all have also "reported transphobic bullying and harassment", along with sexual harassment and abuse, within the custodial environment.
'He also referred to some of the common difficulties and delays around receiving, and appropriately monitoring, hormone replacement therapy in custody.
'Mr Gorrie considers that as a young trans woman you would be particularly at risk in prison.'
Harper's lenient sentence and allocation to a women's prison after he was convicted of abusing his five-year-old daughter sparked outrage amid claims it has set a 'dangerous precedent'.
The Australian Federal Police, acting on a tip from US law enforcement, raided Harper's home in Clayton South, in Melbourne's south-east, on September 15, 2023.
Investigators discovered Harper subjected his five-year-old daughter to 'persistent sexual abuse' between May and June of that year.
Harper sent 77 child abuse files via Discord to his United States-based paedophile master known in court documents as 'Samuel Booth'.
The details of Harper's offending, who pleaded guilty in the Melbourne County Court in July 2024 to charges including persistent sexual abuse of a child under 16, are too harrowing to publish.
An unnamed individual hijacked his Facebook page and changed the cover picture to the words: 'I'm a pedo'
Women's Forum Australia chief executive Rachael Wong demanded in a letter to Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan that she review Harper's sentence
Detectives discovered Harper had been in a 'master/slave' relationship with Booth where he would order them to perform daily tasks and film them.
'These directions included brushing your teeth or showering, but also included instructions for the sexual abuse of your daughter,' Judge Karapanagiotidis said.
'Booth encourages and instructs you to engage in a variety of sexual and perverse acts with your daughter,' the judge noted.
'He occasionally offers you affirmations that you made him "so hard and proud" and that he is "impressed by you" and that "you did so good" and are "such a good girl".'
Harper told police they 'felt terrible and horrible' about the offending.
'You felt tied to Booth because you were not in a good mental state,' Judge Karapanagiotidis said.
'Booth seemed to care, which is not something you had much of. You feel your life had gone terribly and everything got worse.'
Harper's lawyers submitted the fiend was 'completely lacking connection in life' and they experienced 'pervasive feelings of rejection and lack of self-worth'.
Harper was presented as a victim who was exploited by Booth.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Rajan Darjee said Harper 'identified as a female, living as a female and hormonally female' and exhibited a common 'pattern of sexual abuse seen in females'.
'This pattern of sexual abuse is one which a more dominant male pressurises, manipulates and/or coerces a female who has access to a child... to sexually abuse that child and/or to make that child available to him to sexually abuse,' Dr Darjee wrote in his report.
'The person who drives this offending is the dominant male who is able to use a vulnerable female to do what he is sexually motivated to achieve.'
Shortly after Harper pleaded guilty, an unnamed individual hijacked his Facebook page and changed the cover picture to the words: 'I'm a pedo'.
'(Harper) felt the man she connected with cared for and was nice to her, and due to her low self-esteem, lack of assertiveness, loneliness, submissiveness and desperation to be noticed and cared for, it was easy for him to pick up on her vulnerability and manipulate her into the master/slave relationship where he took control of her life,' Judge Karapanagiotidis said.
'He then involved her in sexual exchanges and then coerced her to sexually abuse her daughter and take videos and photos to share with him.'
'She [Harper] was not inherently motivated by deviant sexual interests or any other motive, except doing what he told her and keeping him happy, to sexually abuse her daughter.'
Women's Voices Australia founder Jasmine Sussex said the Harper case was a grim consequence of the state allowing gender self-identification.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety refused to comment on Harper's location.
'When considering placements, Corrections Victoria considers the safety of the individual prisoner and the safety of other prisoners and staff as well as the security of the prison and relevant legal requirements,' a spokesman said.
However, the Harper case has drawn anger from women's rights campaigners.
Women's Forum Australia chief executive Rachael Wong demanded that the Victorian government review the sentence, claiming the 'extraordinary leniency sets a dangerous precedent'.
Women's Voices Australia founder Jasmine Sussex said this was the grim consequence of the state allowing gender self-identification.
'This is an obscene human rights violation by the Victorian government against the most vulnerable group of women in the state - those incarcerated,' she said.
'All decent-minded Victorians are sickened by this craven government policy.
'It forces the County Court to lie to a five-year-old girl surviving her father's evil sexual assault and aggravate his offence with state-sanctioned abuse - claiming the paedophile rapist is a woman.'
Mr Gorrie referred to some of the 'common difficulties and delays around receiving, and appropriately monitoring, hormone replacement therapy in custody'
According to a government media release, the Beyond Bricks and Bars program 'provides culturally appropriate and holistic support to trans and gender diverse people at risk of incarceration and in prison'.
The program also 'helps justice workers improve their understanding of the diverse needs of trans and gender diverse communities'.
'I'm delighted to celebrate the success of Australia's leading organisation providing life-saving support to trans and gender diverse people in our justice system,' then Minister for Equality Harriet Shing said after the taxpayer funded cash injection.
Mr Gorrie said 'relationships and community connections are fundamental to the support we provide'.
'These are the things that keep our community alive, safe and out of prison. Everyone deserves to have their community in their corner when they're going through the hardest period of their lives.
'Trans and gender diverse people behind bars are a part of our community and are fierce advocates for trans rights.'
Harper was jailed for a maximum of four years and nine months.
The County Court heard Harper would most likely be housed in solitary confinement at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.