Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer Australians and their families, the last week has been a bit of a replay of this time last year when we were in the midst of the marriage equality postal survey. It's been a bit of deja vu in the worst way possible. Over the last week we've seen a national debate play out in the media once again, with politicians, commentators and lobbyists debating the rights of LGBTIQ+ people in this country. This time round we're debating whether religious schools should be able to expel students or fire teachers and staff members just because of who they are.

Time and time again LGBTIQ+ Australians have been treated like political footballs by conservative politicians and their supporters, who put us in the firing line in order to shore up their conservative base. Well, I'm sick of hearing my community being talked about as if we are some kind of other. It's time we heard from the actual people affected by these debates and the disgraceful legalised discrimination. A future stepmother of five kids who is engaged to her same-sex partner spoke out this week, saying:

I teach at a conservative Catholic primary school. I am constantly afraid that someone will find out and that I will lose my job. I am the main income earner and my employment is incredibly important. I worry that I will lose my job. I worry that my employer won't give me a good reference if she finds out. This could affect my future employment opportunities. I feel like a criminal and I have done nothing wrong.

It's hard to believe that it's even being suggested that these discriminations have any basis for being upheld. Another prospective parent said:

I have been experiencing insomnia and a lot of anxiety based on the government's willingness to use queer children and children of queer parents as political pawns, sacrificing the mental and emotional health of our young people to satisfy the religious right.

A mum of kids at a Catholic school said:

I have a child in grade 6 at a Catholic primary school. His teacher is the most amazing woman and has taught my son to absolutely come out of his shell this year. Two years ago she taught my daughter in grade one. The teacher was her greatest supporter when she wanted to change the Catholic girls uniform to pants, so my sporty daughter felt more comfortable to be herself. Yet this teacher can't be herself because the school system won't accept her for her.

I thank all of the LGBTIQ+ people who have courageously shared their stories and entrusted me to share them with the parliament tonight.

The Greens have been fighting for years to end the exemptions allowing religious schools to expel LGBTIQ+ students and fire LGBTIQ+ teachers. These exemptions were carve-outs that Labor wrote into our antidiscrimination laws, so it's good now to know that Labor have joined the Greens in saying they will oppose these legal discriminations.

And it is so heartwarming to hear that the overwhelming majority of Australians oppose this kind of discrimination. It's only because of this intense community pressure that both the Labor and the Liberal parties changed their positions in the last week. This afternoon, Prime Minister Morrison said that we must act right now and that we can deal with this once and for all. Well, Prime Minister, right now we have an opportunity to remove these unfair discrimination exemptions once and for all.

Today, the Greens introduced our bill to remove these exemptions from our federal antidiscrimination laws. Our bill would remove exemptions not just for students at religious schools but for teachers and other staff members as well. And it would work to protect students, teachers and staff members not just on the basis of their sexuality but on their gender identity. It was absolutely appalling today that a member of this place refused leave to allow Senator Hinch to amend his motion that was calling for an end to discrimination in schools to include gender identity. Senator Hinch had overlooked gender diverse people in his motion and was absolutely keen to fix this when I pointed it out to him, yet he was refused leave to do so. Actions like these are a kick in the guts to gender-diverse people. They are shocking evidence of the level of transphobia that still exists in parts of Australian society and evidence of the prejudice, the stigma and the denial that trans people even exist. Actions like these epitomise the struggles that trans and gender-diverse people continue to face just to be accepted for who they are. It's a continuation of the appalling attacks that they faced during the marriage equality debate.

Trans, gender-diverse and non-binary people have been hardly mentioned in the public debate over the last fortnight. We must ensure that trans and gender-diverse students cannot be expelled based on their gender identity and that trans and gender-diverse staff members aren't able to be fired. It's time for both the Labor and the Liberal parties to turn their words into action and vote for the Greens bill to protect students, teachers and staff from being expelled or fired from religious schools because of who they are. I call on both the Prime Minister and the opposition leader to support the Greens bill and to work with us in good faith. Together we can end this unfair discrimination once and for all.

Moving on to the I in the LGBTIQ acronym, today my Greens colleagues and I were fortunate enough to sit down with members of our intersex community, representatives from Intersex Human Rights Australia, the AIS Support Group Australia and A Gender Agenda, to listen to and reflect on their lived experience. Their visit to parliament was in recognition of Intersex Awareness Day Friday next week. Their stories were incredibly powerful. We heard stories from people born with variations in sex characteristics who experienced horrific and invasive non-essential surgeries and medical procedures as infants, children and adults. We heard stories of families with intersex infants, children and adolescents not being given accurate information and not being offered options that respect the bodily integrity of their children. And we heard stories of intersex people not being offered referrals to peer support groups that would help them to feel less alone and enable them to connect up with others in their situation. What's more, we heard that this isn't the reality of 30 or 40 years ago but the reality of people born with intersex variations today. Human rights violations are perpetrated against intersex infants, children and adolescents in Australian hospitals today, and the structures of consent are simply non-existent.

Today we were also presented with copies of the Darlington Statement, a joint consensus statement by Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex organisations. The statement outlines what needs to happen to ensure that the human rights of people born with intersex variations are protected, and it outlines a way forward for intersex people to thrive. The statement calls for legal protections for unnecessary medical interventions, together with effective oversight, standards of care and resourcing for peer support and systemic advocacy, because the reality is that intersex peer support remains largely unfunded and advocacy funding remains precarious and limited.

The few intersex-led organisations rely solely on volunteers to address the many gaps in services left by other well resourced health, social services and human rights organisations. This is not good enough.

One of the most powerful things I heard today was a quip that the I in LGBTI stands for invisible, and in some respects it's true. The representatives I met with are so incredibly hardworking, but they are desperately underresourced and urgently need more support to continue the important work that they do. My Greens colleagues and I are committed to working towards a future where the parliament works with peer-led intersex organisations, advocates, human rights experts and health professionals to recognise and respect the human rights and dignity of all people with variations of sex characteristics. I implore the government to do the same. Please, listen to and take note of our intersex community, and please affirm and implement the Darlington Statement and its recommendations. It's so important that you do this. The intersex community's wellbeing depends on it.