LGBTIQA+ support
Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (14:15): My question is for the Premier. This weekend saw anti-trans campaigners join forces with neo-Nazis to spread hatred towards our trans and gender-diverse communities. We welcome the swift action from this government to consider banning the Nazi salute, but there is more to be done. Right now Victoria’s anti-vilification laws do not protect people against vilification based on their sexuality or their gender. That means someone can stand on the steps of Parliament, as they did this weekend, and spread hatred towards trans and gender-diverse people and get away with it. In 2021, following an inquiry, the government gave in-principle support to expanding anti-vilification laws to include gender and sexuality and expanding them beyond race and religion – laws that could have prevented what happened on the weekend. Our queer community is strong. Will the government urgently expand anti-vilification laws to protect our queer community?
Daniel ANDREWS (Mulgrave – Premier) (14:16): I thank the member for Richmond for her question. There were a number of parliamentary inquiries, one in this chamber and another in the other place. The government has responded to one and will soon respond to the second, and I would draw in the first instance the member’s attention to the response we have already provided.
In terms of these issues, what we saw on the steps of Parliament House on Saturday was an absolute disgrace, not in keeping with mainstream values, harmful, dangerous and hurtful and needs to be called out in the strongest possible terms. Whilst I do not seek to find a disagreement between the government and the member for Richmond, I think we do need to be careful to make those points and then pause and not rush to find inadequacies in our law. The attention should be on those people – that is who the attention should be on – and those that stood with them. It is not the first time that we have seen people with extremist views on the steps of this building, and it is not for the first time that we have, I am sad to have to say, had to reflect on those who stood with them.
Members interjecting.
Daniel ANDREWS: Yes. Or invited them or ushered them through the gardens of this building and through this precinct.
Members interjecting.
Daniel ANDREWS: It is shameful. What I would say to the member for Richmond is that the government over its time in office has, through principled positions and urgent action, always sought to protect our diversity, whether that be cultural and linguistic or faith diversity, but also of course our LGBTIQ+ community. We do not have a Minister for Equality for any other reason than that good states – states that care about these things – put in place arrangements to deliver a comprehensive agenda. Minister Shing in the other place and Minister Foley before her have worked hard every single day, and I would not want to think that the Greens political party, given some issues of their own late in relation to the trans community, would be critical of the government’s efforts.
Let us work together, all of us, hopefully, as a Parliament to protect the most vulnerable in our community. There can be no doubt that the trans community and indeed the LGBTIQ+ community more broadly more often than not constitute a real vulnerability, or can do. We need to protect those who need protecting. We need to be clear about what is acceptable and equally clear about what is not. I am more than happy to have a discussion with any member of this place about these matters or refer them to the relevant minister for that sort of a briefing.
Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (14:19): I thank the Premier for his answer and for his strong words on principle. I have checked the government’s response to the inquiry, and in 2021 this government said that they would consider expansion to the anti-vilification laws subject to funding considerations. However, unfortunately, the government has committed no funds and therefore nothing has happened. In fact this Labor government is cutting funding to protect our LGBTIQA+ communities, cutting funding to the human rights and equal opportunity commission, reducing staff and asking them to make do with less funding. If protecting rights is subject to funding, could the Premier please clarify how this government will prioritise legislative reform and anti-vilification to protect trans and gender-diverse people’s rights in the coming budget?
Daniel ANDREWS (Mulgrave – Premier) (14:20): Well, I would simply say, with the greatest of respect to the member for Richmond, the budget will be delivered in May, and it is not being delivered today. I do not accept the contention that she puts forward that there have been cuts to funding when it comes to these areas. The government has delivered the most comprehensive agenda and program of protections and reforms in the history of this state. Whilst it is pleasing to think that the green political party have, in the main, been supportive of those measures, there are some who were a moment ago interjecting and perhaps thought better of it and are not interjecting right now, who did not support that agenda – far from supporting that agenda. Whilst I appreciate the intention of the question, this is not just about laws and funding, this is about calling out abhorrent behaviour and leadership. It is about leadership, and if you are not prepared to show leadership within your own political party, then you are not capable of showing leadership across our state.