Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to put on the record my response to some material that I received by correspondence and which has also been handed to me in consultations that I've had while I've been here in these first two weeks of the parliament.

It's very clear that as we come to this task of serving our nation, the people around this chamber represent a range of views in all areas. Some are people of faith, some are people of no faith and there are a whole lot of people who might not have made up their mind and could be anywhere on a journey between those two things. But we bring to our work here a common belief in the dignity of each person and the value of that in a democracy. And that is the fundamental oil that we need for this machine to work.

There have been attempts throughout history to silence voices at the margins, particularly the LGBTQIA+ community over many, many years. At this time I fear that there have also been significant attempts to silence the voices of faith communities. That is not to excuse any of the terrible things that have happened—