Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In previous contributions I've set out my reasons for why we're opposing these amendments, and I won't repeat those. But I do want to respond to one matter that was raised by the member for Warringah, and that is about lies being told about what gets taught in schools.

Well, there have been a series of lies told, and they've been lies told about the Safe Schools program and other forms of education that have made sure that young people at school who are working out who they are attracted to and what they are as a person get told that they are loved and that they are respected. We heard some of those lies in the various campaigns of misinformation. We heard someone get up and say, 'My son was told that he had to wear a dress at school,' and the principal came out and said, 'That's not right.' I don't understand what's particularly wrong about a boy at school wanting to wear a dress, and I think Senator Bernardi found that out, to his chagrin, when he tried to make a point of it and ended up helping the fundraising efforts of a school that was doing exactly that. But, if there is someone at school who wants to do that, they deserve our support and protection.

The people who are moving these amendments talked a fair bit about protection. There is a group of people that I want to protect. I want to make sure that this parliament protects the young boy in a country town who is working out who he's attracted to. I want to make sure that this parliament protects the girl at a high school in Victoria who wants to take her girlfriend to the school formal. What I know, from having spoken directly to some of the people who've been involved, is that programs at school, like Safe Schools, save lives. They save lives. That should be the first priority of anyone in the House. So, if you want to talk about protection, then let's talk about the protection of every young child in Australia who is listening to this debate, or whose parents are listening to this debate and have to intervene and turn down the television at a particular point in time when another bit of hate speech comes on. Let's use this opportunity to send the message to them that they and their families are loved, and that, when it comes to protection, what we will put first is children and families and that we will recognise that in Australia, in the 21st century, love makes a family.

Like it or not—I say to the people who are moving this amendment—a family might not be what you think it is or would like it to be, but there are children growing up in same-sex couples' households right around this country at the moment, and it is a wonderful thing. This parliament should be getting right behind them. If we want to talk about protection, let's protect every young person in this country. I oppose these amendments.

An incident having occurred in the gallery—

See this speech in context