Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, I have heard of the Magna Carta. Many liberal democracies also have a bill of rights as well. Thank you, member for Kennedy.

Many people of faith I know also have concerns with this bill, and I want those people to know I've also heard their concerns. I want people of faith to know that they are an important part of our community. They absolutely deserve to have their faith respected. They deserve so much better than this debate and this bill which doesn't respect them as a broader part of our community. They instead have been caught up in the Morrison government's mishandling and in a debate that is making vulnerable young people feel judged and excluded. People of faith deserve better than a poorly drafted bill rushed through a committee process because we have a Prime Minister more focused on political wedges and on an election than on genuinely supporting rights. Young people and members of our LGBTIQ+ community deserve so much better than this bill rushed through in the dying days of this parliament. We should not be pitting sections of our community against each other. This unamended bill does that, and it is not worthy of becoming law.

I say again thank you to all the members of my community and the members of communities more broadly who have raised their concerns with this bill with me. I hope tonight I have gone some way to showing you that your views have been heard and they've been aired in this parliament as part of this debate. I again acknowledge how difficult and damaging this debate is and continues to be for some people, particularly for young people in our community. I don't believe that our national parliament is a place that should be making young people feel marginalised and, again, I'm very sorry that the way this debate has operated has led to that happening.

I very much hope that Labor's amendments being moved tonight are supported. I won't go through them all, because many of my colleagues have and will continue to do so. They are worthy amendments and they deserve the support of this place. We can't take away the division that has already been caused by the Morrison government's terrible handling of this bill. But by supporting Labor's amendments tonight, we can make it clear that the future for our country and for our communities is not one of discrimination and division. I urge all members of this House to take that into consideration as we move through this evening.

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