Thursday, 23 February 2023

Ministers statements: equality

Daniel ANDREWS (Mulgrave – Premier) (14:31): I rise to hopefully put beyond any doubt a number of matters in terms of the policies of this government and the law of our state, and I am saddened to have to do this, but it is important to provide clarity when it comes to a number of very important matters. Firstly, when it comes to the termination of a pregnancy, it is the law of this state and a policy of this government that that is a matter between a woman and her doctor. That is settled, despite what might be said in other parts of this building, in other parties, at other times.

Moreover, adoption equality is settled law in this state because of work that this Labor government has proudly done to rewrite the statute book, to make sure that equality is not only not negotiable but is there for everyone to see and works and lives and is practised in every way.

Again, our support for the trans community is not negotiable and is settled. We will not weaponise these issues to make challenging times and challenging experiences all the more difficult. We will not use the trans community as a political weapon as, shamefully, others continue to do in this precinct, in the other place this week. We will support the trans community in any way that we possibly can, and that is fundamentally a recognition that the trans community are 15 times more likely to self-harm. If that is not motivation enough, well, it is our values that tell us to do this, and that is why we will continue to do it.

Just finally, let me put beyond doubt this government’s support for Safe Schools. Safe Schools saves lives. On any bullying, no matter what the motivation, we want to make sure our teachers are properly equipped to be able to protect their students. It is shameful to think that some elected to this Parliament continue to trot out absolute lies and misinformation in relation to that program. I am standing up to make these matters clear. One wonders when someone else might do the same.