Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I had a very interesting discussion some years ago with a South Australian Labor member of parliament—her name was Anne Levy; she is probably known to members opposite—about the issue of cultural practices and particularly women’s issues and where the situation ought to lie when they are in conflict. The view was put very strongly to me that there are certain values in the society in regard to which, when cultural practices impact significantly, as they often do on women and children, women and children ought to be given some primacy. I am surprised, particularly in relation to the issue of female genital mutilation, which has far more horrific consequences than the comparable circumcision for males, that it would be seen as something that by reference to cultural practices ought to be treated in a different light however it occurred. I have great difficulty with that. One of the reasons that we want to press these issues is because we believe that, often in a culture that has been largely focused on what I might regard as patrilineal rights and entitlements, it has often meant that the issues that go to the safety of women and children have been neglected. That is one of the reasons we have wanted to provide some leadership in the way in which these issues are being dealt with.

I do not believe the issue in relation to DNA testing requires any further review. I have made a decision in relation to the way in which it should operate which merely differentiates the procedures that you might use to take into account religious beliefs. I simply say, as I did in my earlier comments in moving the amendments, that the legal advice I have is that strongly held beliefs of Indigenous people about the way in which they see themselves would be seen as religious beliefs, notwithstanding the fact that there is no reference to a god as we understand it. If you look at the characteristic of religion, some have multiple gods and some a unitary system. Buddha does not even claim to be a god, but Buddhism is nevertheless regarded as a religion. The advice to me is quite clear: Indigenous beliefs would be seen as religious beliefs for interpreting the measure, if this were claimed, in relation to DNA.

See this speech in context