Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

At the end of the motion, add: "and:

(a) in respect of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee report by 13 November 2024;

(b) in respect of the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024, the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee report by 25 November 2024; and

(c) the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Acknowledging Biological Reality) Bill 2024 not be referred to a committee.".

I will just speak briefly on this amendment. In relation to A, we certainly believe that having a report by 13 November is more reasonable, as well as by 25 November in relation to item B, and that the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Acknowledging Biological Reality) Bill 2024 should not be referred to a committee. That relates to, I think, two votes that we've had in this place over the past fortnight, and the arguments that I've used in that are relevant here.

We do not believe, once the Senate has voted to not support the bill at the first reading, that referring it to a committee to have a committee inquiry that seeks to do exactly the same thing that I raised objections to earlier this week—an inquiry into what are essentially attacks on the trans community and the gender-diverse community—is worthy of the Senate's time. Where there are issues that affect and personally cause harm to individuals, again, like I said earlier in the week, we draw the line. This is seeking essentially to get around a number of votes in this place where a majority of the Senate has voted not to allow this bill to come into this place and be debated. It is now just seeking another pathway to have exactly the same divisive and hurtful debate in the committee room, as opposed to the chamber floor. For those reasons, we don't support it, and I would hope that the rest of the Senate—a majority of this Senate—would share that view. I don't understand why this Senate should take time to inflict personal harm on vulnerable individuals, and that's what this does. I don't care whatever way people try to dress it up and say it's something else. It is not. It is about causing division and publicly raising concerns about individuals' personal choices. That causes them harm, President, and we won't be part of it. And every time they try, every which way, to get it reborn in this chamber by dressing it differently—through different motions or legislation or referrals to committee—we will have the same principled position on it. We won't be part of anything that seeks to cause harm. We won't be part of anything that seeks to drive division and inflict that kind of division on a vulnerable community who've already endured a lot in terms of public debate about individual choices in this country.

The Senate should just get over it and stop bringing matters like this into the chamber. We are leaders in our communities. We should support our communities, and part of our communities is the trans and gender-diverse community. We should be thinking of them and not seeking to cause them harm. That's what this referral seeks to do, and we won't have any part of it.