Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise briefly to comment on this particular motion, but, in doing so, I also wish to reflect on the debate of the previous motion that has just been carried out in this chamber. The obsession with other people's sex lives that comes from the crazy right wing of this chamber is extraordinary! Obsessed with other people's gender. Obsessed with other people's sexual activities. Obsessed with other people's love lives. Obsessed with other people's dress. In fact, obsessed with everything! Obsessed with everything but their own ability to look at facts, to understand and empathise and to have a genuine debate based on intelligence. It is extraordinary that time in this chamber, over and over again, is being spent on the right-wing moral diatribe that is not even unique. It is directly imported from the fascist right-wing arguments carried out in the United States. They're not even original thoughts that are being argued here in this chamber.

If you want to have a debate about what really is impacting the lives of everyday Australians, talk about the cost of living. Talk about the level of education funding in our schools. Talk about what we're doing to stop violence and discrimination against women, and particularly young women, in this country. Talk about stopping the scourge of sexual violence, the scourge of domestic violence. Talk about what you're going to do to help ensure that young people in this country can cover the cost of their rising rents. Talk about what you're doing every day to help families who are still working, who are still struggling to pay their bills because mortgage rates are going through the roof.

But, no, they want to take up hours and hours of this precious chamber time discussing what somebody else wears, what gender they are and who they want to sleep with! It is obsessive to the ridiculous, and it's not even original thought. They couldn't even write a speech of their own; it is directly imported from the crazy crackpots in the United States. I assume they get all their ideas watching Fox News late at night.