David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Well, of course the coalition won't support this amendment, and that's one of the reasons they got thrown out of government. That's one of the reasons we have a new parliament with a majority in this chamber and a majority in the other chamber that is meant to be unambiguously committed to supporting the rights of the LGBTIQA+ community. That's one of the reasons the coalition is in opposition. And the only rationale given by the government for not supporting this urgent, necessary and fundamentally right amendment is that 'this bill is not the vehicle'. I don't think the LGBTIQA+ community cares which vehicle is used. It could be Uber, it could be a taxi, it could be a bike, it could be this bill. The vehicle isn't relevant. What's relevant here is getting the substantive amendment through, getting the commissioner in place. For the community to hear that response from the government, when they know they've got the numbers here right now to achieve the reform, and the answer is, 'Computer says no', well, that's a deeply disappointing outcome.

As I said before, of course the coalition, with their current mindset—not all, but an uncomfortable chunk of the coalition—that refuses to show decency to this community, are going to say no. But why is Labor joining with them? Why is Labor joining with the coalition to say no to this? We haven't heard an answer—well, no persuasive answer—and it's a deeply unfortunate precedent to set in this new parliament. I thought things had changed.