Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As this adjournment debate comes to a close this evening, I'd just like to reflect on one person as a way of paying tribute to a number of very, very important and inspirational Western Australians. I'd like to start by reflecting on a gentleman by the name of Elie Wiesel, which is not a name that we talk about very often in this chamber, but I think it is someone we should keep constantly at the forefront of our considerations. He was a Romanian-born American professor, political activist, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor. In 1986 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In his extensive writings, which I encourage people to read in moments of reflection, like the summer period that's coming up, he's had a couple of things to say, two of which stand out to me. The first is that he has remarked that, 'Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but finding out the right and upholding it,' and, 'Neutrality is at times a graver sin than belligerence.' He also said—and this is a quote that I keep very, very close to me in my office here in the Senate:

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.

I reflect on those comments as a way of paying tribute to a small but energetic and passionate group of Western Australians who have decided not to stay neutral when it comes to upholding the values, the lifestyles and the love that they have for their children and for the children of other families in Western Australia. I talk about that group of people who are known as PFLAG Perth—the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Yesterday, on 2 December, they celebrated—and it is a celebration—30 years since their inauguration. And if we stop to reflect and think about what Western Australia looked like and felt like for young gay and lesbian people, their parents and their brothers and sisters 30 years ago, it was a difficult place. I'm proudly Western Australian, I'm proudly Liberal and I'm a very, very proud gay man. But I don't dispute the fact that 30 years ago those things were very, very difficult for gays and lesbians. They were very difficult for the parents and friends of gays and lesbians. So tonight I want to pay tribute and acknowledge the founding committee members of PFLAG: the president, June Smyth, from Kenwick; the treasurer, Ms Helen Horntvedt; Mr John Pugh from Perth and Mrs Elfie Heller from Westminster. I've known Mrs Elfie Heller from Westminster for a very, very long time. I've known her for over 30 years. Elfie's youngest son, Martin, is one of my closest friends—a best friend. Martin's eldest brother, Mark, was gay. Elfie joined PFLAG and has been a solid contributor to that organisation ever since.

In honouring PFLAG this evening—PFLAG Perth, quite specifically—I want to recognise the efforts of those committee members and their supporters who have made PFLAG Perth a trusted and reliable contributor to the LGBTI community in Western Australia for the last 30 years. And in honouring those people that founded the organisation 30 years ago, I want to fast forward and thank those people today who keep the energy and the momentum of that organisation alive. I want to thank and honour for their continuing stewardship—and I'm sure I do this on behalf of many Western Australian senators and on behalf of many people in the Western Australian community—the current president, Mr John Wilson, from Dianella; I want to congratulate Liz Prendergast from Nedlands, who is also a very close friend; I want to honour Tracy Lilly from Perth; and, of course, I want to honour the secretary, Ms Denise Taylor, from Westminster.

As a parliamentarian, we get asked, on occasion, to be the patrons of organisations and to support organisations. A couple of years ago—not surprisingly, given the magnitude of a debate that our country engaged in—PFLAG Perth asked if I would be an ambassador for them. It was a great honour and is a great honour to continue to be an ambassador for them, because, as a parliamentarian, there can be no greater compliment, that people choose to trust you with their issues—to argue, to fight and to be a flag-bearer for their issues. And when we think about what Western Australia was like 30 years ago for gays and lesbians and their parents, their friends and their families, it was a difficult place. The people who created PFLAG Perth 30 years ago deserve to be honoured for their courage, honoured for the pride that they had in their children and honoured for the work that they did, not just in driving Western Australia to the decriminalisation of homosexuality but for their contribution in other debates—indeed, in the big debate that we've had in this country in the last few years. These are people who live in our suburbs—the quiet Australians—who demonstrate great personal courage, who stand by their children and who stand by their communities. They deserve to be honoured.

In the last few days of the Senate before we go to Christmas, the Senate program can be a little bit unreliable. I hope that I'll have an opportunity to put in writing my high regard for the work that they have done for the last 30 years. But in case I don't have the opportunity to do that, I wanted to honour them tonight in this adjournment debate. On behalf of all Western Australians who stand by and walk with gays and lesbian people—anyone in the LGBTI community—I am sure I speak for all of them this evening in honouring, congratulating and applauding the courage of PFLAG Perth.

Senate adjourned at 21 : 21