Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As senators, one of the great privileges we get is to bring to the Senate chamber the great work that many Australians do. In December 2019 I took the opportunity to honour one particular group—a Western Australian group, but the group is not unique to Western Australia. I honoured the important work that PFLAG—which originally stood for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays—do in helping our communities understand that when parents have gay children, they have nothing to fear.

In 2019 I used that occasion to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of PFLAG in Perth. I used that speech to acknowledge the important work of the founders of PFLAG in Western Australia—people like June Smythe, Helen Horntvedt, John Pugh and Elfie Heller. I also used the opportunity to acknowledge the important work that the leadership at the time was doing for PFLAG—people like John Wilson, my good friend Liz Prendergast, and Denise Taylor, who is still very much involved.

While our country has travelled a great distance, a tremendous distance in improving the level of understanding about LGBTI issues, making parents and brothers and sisters of LGBTI people learn that they have nothing to fear, that the aspirations for young people in our country can be the same whether they are LGBTI or not LGBTI. Of course, there's always more to do, and, unfortunately, on occasions we see pockets of discrimination in our community. That's why the work of PFLAG and other organisations like them is so very important. I would like to see the day when an organisation like PFLAG is no longer necessary. I don't see that day yet, but I still live in hope.

So it is with tremendous sadness that I draw to the attention of the Senate tonight, the sad passing of 6 February of one of those founders of PFLAG in Western Australia, someone who is very well known to me. She of course was Mrs Elfie Heller. I knew Elfie because she was the mother of one of my closest friends in high school—who is one of my closest friends, Martin. Martin's brother, Mark, is gay. Elfie, who came to our country as a migrant and worked hard in Perth's northern suburbs, knew that she wasn't going to stand by and allow discrimination to hurt her family or to hurt her elder son's aspirations.

I would like to read into the Senate Hansard what PFLAG had to say about Elfie Heller's contribution. They said:

It is with understandable sadness but fond memories and extreme gratitude that PFLAG+ Perth share the passing of Mrs Elfie Heller. Elfie was a lifetime PFLAG+ Perth member and a true character.

Our PFLAG+ elders were on the frontlines of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement and protested on the steps of Parliament House to decriminalise homosexuality. They marched with their loved ones in Perth's first Pride and they sat beside HIV+ positive folk in clinic waiting room. They held the hands of folks abandoned by their genetic families, who were dying of AIDS in hospital wards.

They faced death threats and were shunned by their communities, faiths and extended families. But, like the current members of PFLAG+ Perth, they remained unwavering in their support of not only their own children but LGBTQIA+ folk in general. It was and remains a steep learning curve, but love and commitment go a long way!

So, tonight, I honour all the members of PFLAG across our country. I especially acknowledge those who have been involved in PFLAG in Perth over 30-plus years. And, of course, I acknowledge, with the deepest sadness but with the greatest thanks and gratitude, Elfie Heller.