Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to highlight a very important campaign called The New Norm. This awareness campaign is designed to educate people on the lack of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex—LGBTI—students in high schools. It is disturbing to hear that 82 per cent of LGBTI students feel as though they are not being supported in their school and that 42 per cent feel as though their school is actively homophobic. Also, with only 12 per cent of schools around Australia teaching their students that homophobia is wrong, students are at serious risk of being bullied or bullying themselves. The New Norm aims to empower students, teachers, parents and the general public to take action in creating a school environment that is more inclusive for LGBTI teenagers. As the Chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for LGBTI Australians, I would like to congratulate the founder of The New Norm, Brett Hatfield on this initiative.

I have previously spoken in this place about the devastating impact of discrimination on the mental health of young LGBTI people, which was highlighted in a report titled Growing up queer, released in February. Brett's campaign is spreading a key message in order to create the new norm that sexual preference and gender identity do not define an individual. They are simply one of many aspects of them. I also note that The New Norm is working closely with the Safe Schools Coalition in Victoria, run by the Foundation for Young Australians.

The Safe Schools Coalition Australia is a national program, which supports gender diversity, intersex and sexual diversity in Australian schools, and it is funded by the Australian government. It is the first national coalition of schools bringing together school staff, students and families to create a safer and more inclusive learning environment. The Safe Schools Coalition Australia is now working with our parliamentary friendship group, aiming to get MPs and senators to encourage schools in their region to sign up for this program. I am very excited about my collaboration with these two campaigns, helping to get the message out there that young LGBTI Australians need our acceptance, our understanding and most importantly our support; and that homophobia and transphobia are absolutely unacceptable in our schools and certainly unacceptable in our society.

Colleagues, you can find out more at www.thenewnorm.org. To show your support for this campaign you can have your photo taken, with a sign saying that you, too, are part of The New Norm. I encourage all my colleagues and members of this place to actively come on board and be part of this campaign, showing acceptance for this important part of our community.