On Tuesday, the high-powered Australian art and legal worlds collided with news of a highly unusual anti-discrimination lawsuit lodged in Tasmania aimed at Hobart’s world-famous Museum of Old and New Art (Mona).

The suit alleged that men were being discriminated against by not being allowed into Mona’s women-only Ladies Lounge. After a day of hearings, a decision has yet to be made, but already, the arts community is rife with speculation over the implications of any potential determination. So, how likely is it that Mona will be forced to close its Ladies Lounge?

The complainant visited Mona last year, only to find that he was denied entry into the Ladies Lounge.Credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford

Robin Banks, Tasmania’s former anti-discrimination commissioner, who was in the role between 2010 and 2017 and is now a post-doctoral fellow in the Faculty of Law at the University of Tasmania, told this masthead that she had no idea which way the case would go, but that it was more interesting than anyone initially suspected.

Jason Lau, from NSW, is the man claiming the disadvantage. He argued his case via video link at the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday, maintaining that he was discriminated against because of his gender and was unable to fully experience Mona after paying his $35 entrance fee. Banks says it’s not the first time someone who is not part of a marginalised group has claimed discrimination, but such cases are uncommon.

“The purpose of discrimination law has always been to challenge when marginalised people are further marginalised,” Banks said. “There have been a few [cases such as Lau’s] over the years, but this is certainly unusual, and it’s unusual because it’s about art.”

Mona doesn’t deny discrimination occurred, but it has defended its position by saying that men do get to experience the artwork – by being excluded from the Ladies Lounge. The museum is relying on an exception in Tasmania’s anti-discrimination law that allows for programs that promote equal opportunity for disadvantaged groups.

Kirsha Kaechele (left) and supporters arrive for Tuesday’s hearing.Credit: Charlotte Vignau

In this case, the disadvantaged group is women, who have suffered historical exclusion from many men-only spaces. But will the argument hold sway? On Tuesday, the tribunal member overseeing the case, deputy president Richard Grueber, said on a couple of occasions that he was “struggling” to see how the operation of the Ladies Lounge addressed gender imbalances and provided equal opportunity.

“There’s certainly still plenty of evidence of disadvantage [of women],” Banks says. “We’ve just had International Women’s Day when we talk about things like the pay gap, so things like that do exist. The context here is a little unusual because we’re talking about women in art spaces, and you know, I can’t help but think of the Guerrilla Girls who do work as a feminist collective to promote the presence of women’s art in places where they traditionally haven’t been seen.