Thursday, 15 May 2025

Motions

Equality

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (17:08): I move:

That this house condemns the Shadow Minister for Equality for allowing his shadow colleagues to sponsor a petition attacking LGBTIQ+ people and calling for the cessation of the rainbow libraries toolkit.

I stand today – the day before the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia – with pride to say that on this side of the house we will always stand with our LGBTQ+ communities. Indeed I had the great pleasure only today of meeting with members of the pride community in the Department of Health.

I think that it would be with some trepidation that members of the public service would wonder whether or not they would be able to join together in pride networks should there ever be a change of government in this great state of ours. Because if there is one thing that is very clear, it is that those on the other side will not stand for our LGBTIQ+ community. They might stand and say certain things in this place or to the media or elsewhere, but actions speak always speak louder than words. What we know, and what this motion talks to, is the fact that the Shadow Minister for Equality was silent when people in his political party, on his side of the house, brought to this place petitions that sought to cease the rainbow libraries toolkit, which was nothing other than an attack on some of the most vulnerable members in our community.

It also demonstrates once again how absolutely out of step the Liberal Party are with mainstream Australia and the values of mainstream Australians, who basically are very clear that people should be able to live their lives how they want and love who they want and choose to love. This is not radical thinking; this is about treating people with care and respect and having equality as the principle at the heart of everything that we do. As a Labor government we have always been proud to say that in this state under Labor, equality is not negotiable. It is a mantra for us and we say it with pride, and we stand in solidarity with members of the LGBTIQ+ community – who, I might say, continue to be under sustained attack by conservative forces in this nation. This is shameful, and we have to stand up against this. When we see prejudice and when we see hate, it is really important that we stand up to it.

I mentioned that it is IDAHOBIT tomorrow. This is a day that I always look forward to celebrating with members of the LGBTIQ+ community in my electorate, because I reflect and I remember that when I was a young woman growing up in regional Victoria, in the community that I lived in – at Tallangatta High, at Wodonga High – there were no pride clubs back then. In fact there were not even the words for people to be able to express their identities. Young people from the LGBTIQ+ community were invisible. They were silenced. They lived lives of fear. They were harassed. They were attacked. I cannot share with you the stories that I know from my youth, because they are too hurtful and they are too disturbing.

We have come a long way, and this is vitally important; but we need to be vigilant. I think about this word ‘vigilant’ quite a lot when I think about the progressive agenda of our government, because what we have seen around the world is that governments that are committed to equality, ending discrimination, standing with our LGBTIQ+ communities, standing with Indigenous people and standing for the reproductive health rights of women – and the people these governments stand with – are under attack by conservative forces, right-wing forces, right around the world on a scale that we have not seen for a long, long time. We have to be vigilant because what we know is that these extreme right-wing voices exist in the Brad Battin Liberal Party.

The SPEAKER: Order! Refer to members by their correct titles.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: I am sorry about that, Speaker. The member for Berwick, the Leader of the Liberal Party – these extreme right wing voices exist in the party that the member for Berwick leads, and neither he nor the Shadow Minister for Equality stand up in defence of the voices of marginalised people, whose rights and dignity are under attack.

I am very proud to be standing here next to the Minister for Equality, and I want to congratulate her for her steadfast solidarity always with members of our LGBTIQ+ community. This has been a defining characteristic of the member for Eltham, the Minister for Equality, in the entire time that I have known her, which is actually for quite some time now, which is really great.

Also, speaking on this motion, I need to discuss the health impacts of discrimination. When people are discriminated against, when they are attacked, when they are vilified, we now know, because we have the evidence to prove it, that it actually causes physical harm. It not only causes mental harm, it causes physical harm. When you live with stress, when you live in fear, it causes your body to change, and it brings on or makes you much more susceptible to a whole range of health conditions. This is physical health, and of course the mental health impacts of being, as I said, attacked, vilified and being used, really, as a political punching bag are profound and disturbing, and they should not be tolerated.

It is really important that we stand with our LGBTIQ+ community, because it is the role of leaders to stand with the most marginal in our state, and we have always done that because these are the principles and foundations of our party. We have always been there and been a voice for those that have not always had a voice, and particularly so for our LGBTIQ+ community.

I was talking about the Minister for Equality. We had a fabulous time earlier this year at what is always a fabulous time, which is ChillOut, which is of course the largest ever celebration of queer country pride. That is how ChillOut likes to describe itself. It is a great event, and you know what, unlike the Liberal Party, the LGBTIQ+ community of Daylesford and surrounds is celebrated by the entire community. One of the things I absolutely love about ChillOut is how everyone is there. The CFA, the SES, the primary school, the local police, you name it, everyone is there – and of course the Labor Party. The Labor Party is there every year and always has been. Rainbow Labor always has been.

The Liberals came once. They came before an election. It was embarrassing, because quite frankly, everyone says, ‘Hey, we’ve never seen you guys before and now you’ve rocked up because there’s an election on. Will we ever see you again?’ I knew then that the answer was going to be no, and in fact the answer is no, because they have not been seen since. I think it was when I was running in 2018. So they came in 2018 – never seen them since. That tells you about what a sham the idea of having a Shadow Minister for Equality is on the other side of the chamber. It is an absolute sham, and the community see through this. The community know. They can see a fake, and that is what the Liberals present, because if the Shadow Minister for Equality really believed in equality he would stand up against hateful speech coming from those in his own party. But he does not do this. He is completely absent.

Let us talk a little bit about rainbow libraries and the toolkit. You know what? I have had the great pleasure during my time as local member to meet a number of drag queens, and I can tell you they are a lot of fun. They are also very funny people, in my experience.

Vicki Ward: They also do amazing make-up. Better than I could ever do.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: The make-up is next level, there is no doubt about that. But let me say, you know who else loves drag queens? Kids love drag queens, because they are fun –

Steve Dimopoulos: And you can’t catch gay.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: and they are happy people. They want to be in libraries reading to kids because that is a fun thing to do. It is just about connecting. It is connecting with community. But there are conspiracy theorists, including in the Liberal Party, who, as the Minister for Environment has pointed out, somehow think that you can catch gay. Obviously, that is not true. And they question the motives of people who really just want to participate in community, be community members and be there supporting young people and families in libraries. Where is the harm? There is no harm. The only harm comes from the hate speech, which delivers real harm – physical harm and mental health harm.

We on this side of the place know that our libraries are great centres of community action and community connection. People love their libraries. They go to their libraries to access information, to participate in reading groups, to read the newspaper, to have some company and to just talk to the librarians, and libraries continue to adapt and respond to community needs. That is why we love librarians. If you want to meet people that are really committed to honouring everyone and treating everyone with equality and respect, you need to look no further than a librarian, because librarians are there to meet people where they are at, to support them with what they need and, as I said previously, to help build community.

The rainbow libraries toolkit, which has caused such consternation for some of those on the other side of the chamber, provides guidance for public library staff to ensure that library events, spaces and book collections can be more inclusive and better meet the needs of diverse rainbow communities across Victoria. The toolkit supports those libraries to ensure that all Victorians, regardless of their identity, have a place in our public libraries. In consultation with Switchboard Victoria, the toolkit was prepared in order to provide better information and training to support public library staff in welcoming LGBTIQ+ families into public libraries. It has been necessary that we do create these safe spaces because we have seen increasing vilification of LGBTIQ+ communities and the targeting of LGBTIQ+ inclusive events, including drag story time events for young people held at libraries.

I am embarrassed to say that this behaviour is condoned by people who are members of the Liberal Party and sit in this place and in the other place as members of that party. It really is shameful. It is absolutely shameful. The very worst thing that politicians can do is seek to divide communities. We have just had a federal election where we saw what happens when you seek to divide communities. We saw a federal election that sought to vilify certain members of our community and that deployed racist dog whistles in order to elicit votes. This kind of extreme right-wing action that seeks to divide communities needs to be called out, and that is why I am proud to be speaking on this motion tonight.

These extreme right wing views – again, why would anyone want to pit one person against another? Why would they want to do that? Why try and make people feel excluded? Why try and make people feel that they are not worthy? Why would anyone want to do that? But there are people that do this, and they sit here, and they sit in the other place, and it needs to be condemned with all of our force and all of our might. What is even worse is when they have the hypocrisy to then proudly announce, ‘We have a Shadow Minister for Equality. It is a Shadow Minister for Equality that will not stand up for equality. It is absolutely shameful.

As I said earlier, the important thing here is not what your job title is, it is whether you take any action, whether you live that responsibility. The member for Brighton could take a leaf from the Minister for Equality’s events. As I said, despite living in and representing an electorate that has one of the largest regional LGBTIQ+ communities, have I ever seen the member for Brighton in my electorate at any of those community events celebrating our diverse LGBTIQ+ community? The answer to that is no.

I can see the newly elected member of Prahran is looking a bit shocked, and so she should be, because she also represents a community that has a large LGBTIQ+ community. She should be shocked to learn about the lack of action from the Shadow Minister for Equality, the member for Brighton, when it comes to standing up for LGBTIQ+ rights. It is completely unacceptable.

As I said earlier, communities can see through this bluff and bluster. Communities can spot a charlatan a million miles away, and I suspect one of the reasons why the member for Brighton has never been seen in my electorate – I am not sure if he spends any time in Prahran – is no-one actually wants him there, because they know the truth, they absolutely know the truth.

Back to the rainbow libraries toolkit: as I have said, it is a support tool for public library staff. It is not a program. Really, this big fuss and carry-on and nonsense that we saw – why would you be out garnering signatures on a petition like this? Why would you even bother, seriously, other than to stoke fear of the other, fear of difference, rather than acceptance? Acceptance and love, right? I just cannot understand it. I simply cannot understand what motivates people who want to pit one person against another. Also, I cannot understand people who are completely obsessed with people’s sexual identities. I mean, it is a bit odd, right?

We have the great honour and privilege of living in one of the best countries in the world, one of the most privileged countries in the world. We live a privileged life here, and then what disturbs me is when people want to use other people to cause resentment, when they try and pit certain people against each other to build resentment in our community and try and stoke this kind of fear and hate that somehow someone else is getting something that they are not. I think we see this in the LGBTIQ+ community in the way that conservatives seek to weaponise that community for political gain. We see it also in the way in which some members of the Liberal Party – I will say some, not all, but a sizeable number – use our First Nations people in the same way.

They stoke racism to win votes. That is disgraceful. It is absolutely disgraceful, shameful behaviour.

They use homophobia to try and harvest votes. Why work to diminish all humanity in this way? Because that is what they are doing. That is diminishing humanity. We should be building people up. We should take our roles as leaders in order to support people, to take people on a journey with us, to be open to difference and to be open to meeting people of different backgrounds, different sexualities, different experiences and different identities. We are enriched by the opportunity to meet and grow in this way. That is why the rainbow toolkit is so important. It is doing a very, very simple thing. It is working to support our libraries to be more supportive and inclusive of our LGBTIQ+ community members and rainbow families. As I said earlier, I know our librarians are already pretty good at this. But for reasons that I cannot quite fathom, other than rank political opportunism, those on the other side seek, as I said, to weaponise this issue. When they do it to scapegoat LGBTIQ+ members –

Kat Theophanous interjected.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: Thank you, member for Northcote – another member in this place who is proud to represent a community that has a large proportion of LGBTIQ+ members in it. The member is very proud of that fact, I know. But to scapegoat these community members for rank political gain is disgraceful. It actually makes me really, really angry, but more than that, it makes me sad because – again I will come back to a point that I have made previously – our role as leaders is to lift people up, to bring people together and to unite people through difference, right? We should be the peacemakers, and we should celebrate diversity rather than seeking to exclude people based on their sexuality or their identity. As the Minister for Health, I am very proud of the work that our government does. Of course we have an LGBTIQ+ advisory committee, which helps me make sure that we have health services that are responsive to the needs of our LGBTIQ+ community and that we meet the needs of that community.

I might say, too, while I am on my feet discussing these matters, that it has been a real privilege and honour to meet the families and the clinicians that work at the Royal Children’s Hospital gender clinic. I have met families there who have shared with me their stories, their journeys and some of the very real challenges that they have experienced with their gender-diverse children, and they have been unanimous in sharing with me their regard for the clinicians at the Royal Children’s. It is a multidisciplinary clinic at the Children’s, with highly experienced, compassionate and sensitive clinicians who work one on one with kids to make sure that we are providing them with the very best care.

I might point out too that this is another thing that the Shadow Minister for Equality has never done. He has never raised with me the ongoing attacks on that clinic by two members in particular in the other place, Mrs Deeming and Mrs McArthur, who are relentless critics of that specialist work that is delivered. They seek to shame the children, shame the parents and vilify them. Where is the Shadow Minister for Equality when this happens? He is nowhere to be seen; there is not a peep and not a word from him.

In fact I am trying to think – and I am sure the actual minister will be able to tell us – whether the Shadow Minister for Equality has done anything. Seriously, has he done anything other than ignore?

Vicki Ward interjected.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: He remains in the shadows, indeed he does. Has he done a single thing in support of our LGBTIQ+ community? No. I mean, he may have gone to Pride. I could not get there this year. He may have been there; I am not sure.

But you know what, it is very easy to join a big march with a whole lot of Victorians. That is easy. The real work is in developing policy, standing up for what matters, calling out hatred and vilification when you see it and moving in your own party to discipline those who seek, as I have said, to scapegoat our LGBTIQ+ community members and to use them for rank political purposes. I cannot understand why anyone would want to belong to a party that seeks to win votes off the back of hatred, but that is what the Liberal Party does, I am afraid to say. I am afraid to say that, but I am also delighted to say that the Australian people rejected that type of politics only 10 or 11 days ago in the federal election, and they rejected it overwhelmingly. That is why I said the Liberal Party is totally out of step with mainstream Australia when it comes to these issues.

Members interjecting.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: I am going to take up some interjections. I am hearing, ‘Oh, but we introduced marriage equality.’ But I will tell you what, where is your Shadow Minister for Equality when it comes to calling out the vilification of our LGBTIQ+ community, the ridiculous petitions to try and ban the rainbow toolkit, making a story out of nothing for rank political purposes? I feel like I have said that about 17 times now, but it is the truth, so I have to just keep repeating it.

I know that there are many others on this side of the chamber who really look forward to getting up on their feet and making a contribution on this very important issue. But on this side of the house our values are clear. We have clear eyes on these issues, because it comes from a belief and a value system that is that everyone deserves our respect, that we should all live free to be who we are, free to love who we want, but also to be celebrated for who we are, to be respected, to be cared for, to be loved and to not face discrimination, because discrimination diminishes us all. We will always stand by these abiding values.

I will finish by reflecting on my role as Minister for Health and the absolute honour and privilege it is to be able to work with organisations of the calibre of Thorne Harbour that have worked to support the health and wellbeing of our LGBTIQ+ community in the face of discrimination and of vilification. We all remember some very dark days in the history of LGBTIQ rights here in Victoria. I know that there are others who will have more to add on this, but I commend this motion to the house.

Steve DIMOPOULOS (Oakleigh – Minister for Environment, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Outdoor Recreation) (17:39): It is a pleasure to follow the mover of the motion and the eloquence expressed by the Minister for Health in her comments. There are a couple of things. One is that not only does this petition offend common decency in terms of the subject matter of it, but the fact that you would want to put pressure from Spring Street to local communities to cancel or cease a story time just because it happens to be rainbow queer story time is a problem already. The second problem here – and I am not sure the Libs know this – is this is censorship. From the party that talks against censorship, this is censorship. They are reaching from Spring Street right out to communities across Victoria saying, ‘You will not tell stories in public libraries that we don’t agree with.’ That is censorship.

John Mullahy interjected.

Steve DIMOPOULOS: Exactly. As the member for Glen Waverley said, this is Monash council’s story all over again. When I first heard this I thought, ‘They’ve got to be kidding.’ I thought I missed something and we were compelling parents to take their children to drag story time, because there is no other way you would be against this, right? Then I found out that no, we are not compelling them. This is how ridiculous it is. People have a choice to take their children to any story time, and it happens to be, on this occasion, rainbow story time. I would be against the state of Victoria compelling people to take their kids there. I thought that they must be moving a motion because we were compelling them. No, we are not compelling anyone to do anything, mate. Sorry, Speaker. You are my mate, but I am not calling you mate in this forum.

The SPEAKER: I hope you are not reflecting on the Chair, Minister.

Steve DIMOPOULOS: No, not at all, Speaker. So not only is it against common decency and is fearmongering, it is actually against traditional Liberal Party values – Liberal Party: no censorship. Stop censoring what people want to do in public libraries. The modern Liberal Party is censoring Victorians. You cannot walk into a library and choose what you hear. No, the Liberal Party says, ‘You must hear what we want you to hear.’ If I fill in the counterfactual here, you must hear stories about mum, dad and two kids – heteronormative stories – because that is effectively what they are saying. You cannot hear any story that is different. It is so offensive. It is beyond belief.

But you know what, there are a bunch of stories here on a bunch of lived experience by people in Victoria who have suffered trauma. Some have died by suicide. Too many, in fact, have died by suicide. People have lived through trauma and are still living through trauma, and often it is these kinds of conversations that bring that about. It is not just a direct physical attack, it is the emotional and mental anguish, as the Minister for Health was talking about – what it does to a queer person when they are talked about in those terms. Stop talking about us in those terms. It is not your business. It is not your business, it is not decent and it is not right, so stop doing it. If you are occupying time in the Parliament of Victoria to put up ridiculous petitions like this, you are causing harm and not even realising it – you probably are realising it. But you are causing harm. But I do not expect anything different from the Liberal–National Party, and I have got proof points for that.

In 2015 this good government, the Labor government of Victoria, set about to address an inequality in adoption. We wanted to make it equal so that same-sex couples could adopt as well. Do you know what the Liberal Party did? They squibbed it at the very end. They said, ‘We will only vote for this bill if you allow adoption agencies to discriminate,’ so ‘We won’t discriminate, but we’ll allow them to discriminate.’ I am sorry, but adoption is not an agency-specific responsibility; it is a state government responsibility. You need to mandate one way or the other, mate. You cannot choose whether somebody discriminates. You should outlaw it completely. So they squibbed that. We got it through, thankfully, but they squibbed it.

In 2016 – something really, really harmless, even for the most homophobic person; this was pre marriage equality: ‘Can we register same-sex relationships so they have a sense of formality and recognition by the state?’ I thought that was a really beautiful idea by this beautiful government here: ‘Let’s go and register same-sex relationships.’ My partner and I did it at Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria. But the Liberal–National Party, after much tortuous thinking, said, ‘We just can’t commit. We can’t commit. We’re going to call a conscience vote.’ A conscience vote – not even marriage equality; that was a registration process.

I mean, pets had more rights at that stage. Pets get registered, for God’s sake. But we wanted something as a state government. We cannot change the Marriage Act 1961, but we could do something. No, they would not even do that. They said, ‘No, no, we can’t bring ourselves to do that – conscience vote.’ And a bunch of them did not vote for it, a bunch abstained.

There is a bunch of stuff in between but in 2021 with the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020, they squibbed that at the end as well. They wanted more time for consultation. What do you need more time for consultation about when people are being told that their humanity is wrong and that it is lawful to go and spend resources on priests and psychologists in a heavy-handed manner to try and change people? Do we try and change straight people? No. This is outrageous. And they just said, ‘No, no, we can’t quite bring ourselves to do that. Let’s do more consultation.’ So let us talk more about gay people – about them, not with them.

Then again in that same year there was the Equal Opportunity (Religious Exceptions) Amendment Bill 2021. Government-funded organisations and non-government-funded organisations, including some schools, could discriminate on who they hire based on their sexuality. But this is 2021, not 1821. And they said, ‘No, no, sorry – freedom of expression.’ Where is their freedom of expression when it comes to matters about the Jewish community in Israel? It is good that they do not have it, because – well, they squibbed that one too, and I will get to that in a moment. But fundamentally you use ‘freedom of expression’ when you do not care enough about the group you want to protect. That is what happens. You use freedom of expression for that. There is a place for freedom of expression in a democracy, absolutely, but not at the harm of others.

Getting to freedom of expression in the last couple of minutes I have, we had the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill 2024, the anti-vilification bill, for short – they squibbed that as well. And how did they squib that? They voted against the bill in the upper house, and the reason they voted against the bill in the upper house was because this government rightly asked how you assess whether someone has been vilified or discriminated. How? You assess it by the test that that person who feels vilified puts on you, whether it be a queer person or whether it be someone of a different colour or a different faith. They said, ‘No, no, no, it has got to be a reasonable person test – an ordinary person.’ How can someone who is not of Greek heritage, who is not gay, who is not Aboriginal or who is not disabled judge whether that person or that group with those attributes has been vilified? And they said, ‘No, we want a reasonable person test.’ There is nothing reasonable about it.

The point about all of this is that it is not one occasion, it is not two occasions, it is not three occasions and it is not four occasions. On every single occasion the Liberal–National parties in the state Parliament of Victoria have had a chance to take one step forward for the protection of our humanity as queer people, they have not taken it. They have form. I am not saying every single one of them is homophobic, but as a culture, as a party, they are absolutely homophobic. I say that as a member of Parliament, I say that as a minister and I say that as a gay man. They are absolutely, as a culture, as a party, homophobic, and this government will not stand for it. We have never stood for it because our community, in all their humanity, all Victorians, are worth far more than for us to play games with them.

Bridget Vallence: On a point of order, Speaker, I feel that the member on his feet was actually personally reflecting on members on this side, including me. I personally take offence, and I ask you to ask him to withdraw.

The SPEAKER: Well, the minister on his feet did not refer to any particular member of Parliament. I will take it up, but I do not think there is a reason to withdraw.

Bridget Vallence: On a further point of order, Speaker, the minister was seeking to disparage members personally. I am in the chamber. He sought to disparage members. I took personal offence to that, and I would ask you to ask him to withdraw.

The SPEAKER: I understand, member for Evelyn. He did not refer to you directly.

Vicki Ward: On the point of order, Speaker, I would like it noted that the minister did say ‘not all’ when he was talking about the culture of the Liberal Party.

The SPEAKER: Order! There are standing orders in relation to this matter. The member for Evelyn understands the standing orders. The minister did not reflect on or mention any particular member of Parliament. It was in the course of the debate that he referred to members more broadly. That is not a reason for withdrawal.

Vicki WARD (Eltham – Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Natural Disaster Recovery, Minister for Equality) (17:51): I rise to absolutely support the motion put forward by the Minister for Health, because in this place we do need to continue to demonstrate that, as the minister said, equality is not negotiable in this state under this government. We will absolutely stand with all Victorians. We are not going to stand by and allow discrimination, we are not going to stand by and allow vilification and we are not going to stand by and allow exclusion, because that is not the culture of the Labor Party. The Labor Party has always been about the collective. It has always been about inclusion, and it has always been about making sure people are not left behind. That is at the core of who we are as a labour movement. We will continue to stand in those truths, and we will continue to stand up for people.

Now, I am not going to go as far back into history as the Minister for Environment did, but I do want to go back two years. Two years ago to this very day I was out the front of Eltham library with the local mayor, with local councillors, with members of different sporting clubs, including basketball – the Eltham Wildcats. I was there with community members, and we put forward, with coloured chalk, rainbows, rainbow butterflies and signs with messages of love and support. We had to do that because the next day drag story time had been scheduled – and, oh, the horror to think that that could actually happen in a library. My community is very happy to have drag queens. We recognise the fun that is drag queens, and so do kids. Kids love the colour and the movement. They love the sparkles. They love the exaggeration. They love the joy, the humour and the naughtiness that drag queens bring. There are a lot of people across Victoria, adults, who like the adult version too. They enjoy it a lot. In fact I reckon I could say every one of us in this place has had a local community group that has benefited from the work of a drag queen who has come along and done a fundraiser for drag bingo or a whole bunch of drag trivia.

But back to my library in Eltham. I want to do a shout-out to Frock Hudson for turning up and for continuing to read, in her full glory, books to children in Eltham while the rainbow community angels, fantastic people, spread their wings and shielded them from the hate – from those bigots who came into my community and tried to shut us down. Well, we were not shut down. But I will tell you what was really appalling. It was not just the bigots coming in, it was the vitriol and the vilification that was put on not just the queer community but on our librarians, on people in the community and on council workers who picked up the phone while people yelled and screamed and ranted and threatened down the phone because of how outraged they were that an adult playing dress-ups would dare to read a story to children whose parents had voluntarily brought them there.

A member interjected.

Vicki WARD: Exactly – and there were personal threats to councillors.

So in light of this terrible behaviour, librarians wanted to work out how we can keep our libraries safe. How can we create inclusive environments so that every person, no matter who they are, feels welcome and safe when they come to a library? Libraries are absolutely the heart of communities.

Every single person in a community is touched by a local library at some point in their lives, and our librarians are absolutely fantastic people and to be commended for the leadership that they show when it comes to inclusion. They wanted not just to have a space that could be inclusive and safe but also to know how to deal with violent bigots, with aggressive bigots, with rude bigots, with threatening bigots. Together with the department and with others, they created what became the library toolkit, a resource for libraries to use to create a safe space both for librarians as well as for the queer community.

I do not know in what rational world we have people who say, ‘That’s outrageous! How dare they create a safe space. How dare they create something that people might want to come along to and feel comfortable and safe in. How dare we have people who want to have safe libraries for every person that comes in.’ But that is exactly what we have seen in the other chamber. We have seen a petition supported and debated by the opposition to shut down a resource, to shut down a toolkit. It is unfathomable, it is absolutely unfathomable, and I do not know how we get to this point, I really do not.

What I also really do not understand is: if you want to get rid of the rainbow libraries resource kit, then does that mean that you also want to get rid of the librarians who want this resource? How much do you shut down? How much of Donald Trump’s divisive politics do those opposite actually want to embrace? Because that is what this is. We look in horror at what we see in the United States, and we see the same behaviour being exhibited here. When we are talking about the queer community, we are talking about at least 11 per cent of adults in this state, at a minimum – that is those who self-identify on ABS statistics. But we also know that there is research that tells us for those who are under 25 it is anywhere between 17 and 20 per cent. So it could be one in five of those young people. And do you know who does not support conservatives – young people. And do you know why – because they do not support young people. If you are talking about one-in-five young people being queer, that means pretty much every young person in this state has got a mate, a sibling, a cousin who is queer. And guess what? They do not want to see them vilified, they want to see them included, and they do not want to see them used as collateral damage.

We have seen research that has been commissioned by Equality Australia, which has shown that 86 per cent of Australians think it is outrageous that transgender issues and particularly transgender kids are politicised, that their journey towards being who they are is politicised, is used as divisive and hateful politics for political gain. Australians actually do not like this, and we saw that two weeks ago at the federal election. This is not the kind of country that Australians want to live in, and it is certainly not the place that Victorians want to live in. They do not want this divisive, nasty, horrendous, damaging politics – the politics of hurt, the politics of harm, rather than the politics of love, care and inclusion. This is a dangerous game those opposite play, it really is.

That is why it is so disappointing that despite the fact that in May last year Brad Battin released a statement that said, and I quote, ‘A Liberal Party I lead will never tolerate hateful and divisive rhetoric’ – that is a great ambition – I am struggling to see how it has actually been manifested. I am struggling to see how he has actually kept to his word, particularly when he has rewarded and elevated a member of his team – in fact he has encouraged a higher profile of a member of his team – who has exhibited divisive and hurtful behaviour with a shadow ministry position.

This is absolutely outrageous. To promote people in your party who have shown divisive, harmful, hurtful behaviour is kind of contradictory to saying that you want to promote inclusion in communities and that you will never tolerate hateful and divisive rhetoric. That means hateful and divisive rhetoric towards everybody, not just a couple of people and not just the people over here – all people, and that includes those in our LGBTIQA+ communities.

We stand with our communities. We have invested significantly through this government, and we will continue to do so. We are the only state with a commissioner for LGBTIQA+ communities. We are the only state with a Minister for Equality, and we will continue to stand up for this community.

Nick STAIKOS (Bentleigh – Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Local Government) (18:01): I rise to make a contribution to this motion, and I would like to begin by saying that as the Minister for Local Government, a relatively new Minister for Local Government, I spend a lot of time dealing with issues of governance, I spend a lot of time dealing with council rates and I spend a lot of time dealing with municipal waste charges. But what gives the local government portfolio a bit of colour are our public libraries – our 293 public libraries and our 24 mobile libraries. These libraries are community spaces and they are welcoming spaces.

Back in 2006 Public Libraries Victoria conducted a public library census, as they always do. What they found back in 2006 was that only 47 per cent of library users agreed that libraries were a hub for community activities and connections, but more recently in 2022 the census conducted by Public Libraries Victoria found that that figure grew to 82 per cent. So our libraries are valued. The census in 2022 also found that 92 per cent of visitors felt safe at their local library and 88 per cent of visitors felt that the library welcomed people from all walks of life. Libraries are places for everyone. In a cost-of-living crisis libraries are one of the few places you can take your kids. Libraries are places where you can bridge the digital divide. They are places where library users can access digital government services. In fact in the 2022 library census 56 per cent said that they use the library to get information about government services, 64 per cent said that they can find out what is going on in the community and 72 per cent indicated that they feel better about themselves at their local library. Libraries are places of information. Libraries are places of knowledge. Libraries are places of connection. They are safe spaces.

I, as the Minister for Local Government and as the minister responsible for our 293 public libraries, will not allow those opposite to bring their hate into our public libraries. Those opposite may organise hateful rallies and then feign surprise when Nazis turn up to them, but what I say is this, and I have this message for them: they should stay away. They should not get their hands on our public libraries. They should not bring their hate into our public libraries.

I have always known that as far as those opposite are concerned, there is not a minority group in this state that they are not willing to scapegoat for their own political expediency. That is the truth about the Liberal Party. The only minority group that the Liberal Party actually supports is the Liberal Party. That is the only minority group that the Liberal Party supports.

We take a different approach. My opposite number in the other place, Mrs McArthur, the Shadow Minister for Local Government, is concerned about rainbow toolkits. Well, these toolkits were put together by Public Libraries Victoria in consultation with the government. I acknowledge Angela Savage, the CEO of Public Libraries Victoria, and her amazing team for the work that they do for all of our public libraries and our mobile libraries and the work they do in partnership with local and state government. We have these rainbow toolkits for the same reason that we have Safe Schools. It is to ensure that we have resources to make sure that our public libraries, like our schools, are safe spaces for people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. That is all this is. I can assure Mrs McArthur that if she walks in through the front door of any of our 293 public libraries, nobody is going to offer her a rainbow toolkit. It is a resource for our librarians.

Like the Minister for Equality, who spoke just before me, I am also fed up with the intimidation that is shown towards our councillors, our council staff and especially our public librarians. The Liberal Party should be standing up for our librarians, not organising such hateful petitions and hateful rallies. This is 2025. They need to get the message that this rhetoric is not working for them, that Victorians value being part of an inclusive society. We know that of Victorians on this side of the house. That side of the house campaigns like it is 1959. They are stuck in a time that has since gone by, on that side of the house.

I am proud of the support that our government gives to our libraries to make sure that they are always safe spaces, that they are always inclusive spaces, and I will run through some of that support. This government in 2024–25 has provided a total of $53.3 million to public library services in Victoria, and that includes $48.2 million in recurrent funding, $1.1 million through the Premiers’ Reading Challenge book list and also $4 million through the Living Libraries infrastructure program, and I am very much looking forward to announcing the recipients of those infrastructure grants over the next few weeks. It is because we value our public libraries. They are sacrosanct. They are safe spaces. So I say to the Liberal Party: get your hands off these public libraries. Do not bring your hate into our public libraries. It is not welcome.

We are in this global cost-of-living crisis and those opposite are concerned about rainbow library toolkits. They are concerned about resources for our public librarians to ensure that we make sure that our public libraries are inclusive spaces for everyone. Why so much hate? As community leaders we should be ensuring that we do everything to maintain an inclusive society, a society that embraces multiculturalism, that embraces diversity and that also ensures that we have a safe society and a safe community and safe public spaces for LGBTQ Victorians. This is what we value on this side of the house and this is what we have done on this side of the house. I am absolutely fed up – fed up – with the activities of those opposite when it comes to these sorts of matters. I am fed up with those opposite attending citizenship ceremonies and taking their selfies and then the next day organising rallies where very hateful people turn up. I am fed up with those opposite marching in the Pride March in St Kilda, going on Joy FM saying one thing and going on 3AW saying something else. I am fed up with all of this, and the Victorian community sees through all of this.

That is why they have nearly got minority party status at a federal level. That is why they suffered that historic defeat and are going to be in such low numbers in Canberra.

The LGBTQ+ community know that they have an ally in this government, and I as Minister for Local Government will always ensure that our public libraries are sacrosanct, that they are safe spaces; that they are inclusive spaces; that they are places of knowledge, of imagination, of assistance and of support to our community; and that they remain safe spaces for all communities, including our LGBTQI brothers and sisters.

Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston) (18:10): It is an absolute pleasure to rise on this motion tonight. I am a bit of a duffer; I have forgotten my glasses, but I do not need to read notes for this one. I do not know who said it, but someone very smart said ‘Privilege is when you can afford to sit back and watch other people’s rights be trampled’, and that is what we are seeing here. This is an impingement on people’s human rights, and we will get into that in a second, and this is an argument about community safety. It really is an argument about community safety, because the libraries that we are talking about in this motion were safe. They were happy. There were families there. They were enjoying people dressing up, sharing stories, acting an art form. It was the people that put their names on this petition and started this petition that actually made those libraries unsafe, and that is an absolute blight on that movement. To know that there are people, as the minister who spoke before me said, on one hand on Joy FM or going to the Pride march saying one thing and then being on 3AW and taking a harder line – that is the very essence of manipulation. When your actions do not actually meet what you are saying, that is the definition of manipulation.

I was so saddened as a former teacher to see people up in arms once again over something that is very, very simple and very, very inoffensive. People being obsessed with other people’s sexuality, people being obsessed with other people’s gender, people being obsessed with other people’s art forms – yes, it is a little bit weird when it gets to the point where they are obsessed with toilets. Seriously, we have got people out the front protesting about bloody toilets. It is pretty simple, really. What we are talking about here as far as the petition goes I find highly offensive.

I will be very open with people, and people on this side of the house know that I could tell you every single performer on seasons 1 to 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I have read the book on RuPaul. I think the guy is an absolute business genius. What he did, against all odds, is pretty crazy. It is pretty impressive. I have met Karen from Finance, one of my favourite drag queens. I have met Reuben Kaye, who does a very, very clever cabaret. Reuben Kaye is also my style queen, just so you know, this side of the house. I do not find that offensive at all – and the people in these audiences, they are laughing. The people that are not laughing are the people that sit at home, get on their computer, get on social media and think, ‘What can I hate tonight?’

I can tell you now, I am sure I might be stepping on the boundaries that those opposite find so offensive, because when I was a teacher, I used to dress up to read books. Now, I am not saying I dressed up as a princess or a fairy, but there are many people who dress up as mermaids or princesses or fairies. Does it matter whether they are male or female? Does it matter if they are men or women? They are entertaining. Anyway, I have got to say, the primary school book weeks, I put a lot of work into them as a teacher, a lot of work – a lot of tailoring, a lot of hot glue guns, as did some of the parents here. I know my kids, if they heard me speaking now, would probably be nodding along and saying, ‘Yes, you did – a little bit too much, to the point where we actually wondered whether you were still straight, Dad.’ But I loved that. And the best thing about it was that I could enter a room of children and parents and the school community and we could have a great, entertaining time and everyone could feel safe. People are learning, people are enjoying reading, and all of a sudden you see kids reading who you have been struggling to get to read a comic book because that is all they will invest in. You would say to the parents, ‘Look, if you can just get them to read one page of a comic book and they can learn to read from left to right, they can learn some of the phonics, of course, when they’re reading, but also about shapes and things like that and where to write on the lines, we’ve got a foundation to grow from.’

But to see these kids in these drag library sessions inspired, looking at books – they are in a library, a room full of books; that is what our kids need. If you cannot read, you cannot do anything else. If you want to do mathematics, you cannot do that without reading. Reading is the number one issue for any educator. It is the number one issue, especially when kids are that young. You will do anything to get them to open a book and start reading and learning, and I can see you nodding your head, Deputy Speaker.

I will finish there on the community safety side of things. No, no – do not have a heart attack, Whip; I have got more to say. I could be up here for another 20 minutes, because this is a community safety issue. The essence of what I have been saying is that the only people making libraries unsafe are the people that are protesting. Can you imagine how unsafe those kids feel? They do not feel unsafe because there is a person who identifies as male in a dress acting like a fairy. It is pretty innocuous stuff. It is pretty funny; it is humorous. I am sure a whole kind of act goes with it. But the protestors made it unsafe – not that person, who the kids love seeing. At the end of the day you can tell that kids love being there.

The human rights issue is what really drives me crazy about this. We continually see people bringing these issues to this Parliament, and they do not seem to have read the United Nations charter of human rights. Whether it is their faith, just the way they were brought up and their general beliefs or maybe the stereotypes that they carried with them from the 1920s, there are things that we just do not appreciate in this state and will not support. The United Nations has actually drawn up a charter that includes rights for these people, and I just want to read a little bit from it. Under the core legal obligations of states to protect LGBTI people:

Protecting LGBTI people from violence and discrimination does not require a new set of human rights laws or standards. States are already legally required to safeguard the human rights of LGBTI people under international human rights law, in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights treaties.

The core legal obligations of States with respect to protecting the human rights of LGBTI people include obligations to:

• Protect LGBTI people from violence

• Prevent the torture and ill treatment of LGBTI people

• Repeal laws criminalizing consensual same sex relations and transgender people

• Prohibit and address discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics

• Safeguard freedoms of expression –

much like a drag queen at a library –

… association and peaceful assembly for LGBTI people

It is no wonder that there are people on the other side of the chamber who shift in their seats very, very uncomfortably at the rhetoric coming out of their colleagues’ mouths that they probably do not agree with. But because of how politics works – because of the factional nature of their political party – they cannot say anything. It is going to be very, very interesting in the future to see whoever leads that party actually take a stand and be on the side of their community instead of answering to backbench apparatchiks who are the powerbrokers of that party, who have that 1920s-esque sense of themselves and of what a community should be because they were just brought up like that or because they believe that.

The good news is things have moved on. As I said at the start of this contribution, privilege is when you can afford to sit back and trample on other people’s human rights, and that is actually what has been happening here. Those people who protested in those libraries or in those library forecourts against innocent people providing entertainment to kids and helping kids learn to read reduced community safety. They impinged on people’s human rights, and they certainly did trample on other people’s rights.

It is the responsibility of all of us, not just on this side of the chamber, and without any political overlay, to stand up for everyone in our community, according to the UN charter of human rights that I just read out, because this is a human rights issue.

Anyone that does not should stand condemned, they really should. I think if you stand back and obsess a little bit less about toilets and who uses toilets, if you stand back and stop wasting your time obsessed with things like someone who dresses up and entertains children at a library, you will find that you might miss less of what happens, some really, really important things in our community that need your action, need your time and need you to focus on them for your community, because that is what your community deserves. You are a community representative. I commend this motion.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (18:20): I am pleased to rise to speak on this motion:

That this house condemns the Shadow Minister for Equality for allowing his shadow colleagues to sponsor a petition attacking LGBTIQ+ people and calling for the cessation of the rainbow libraries toolkit.

I would like to take the house back to the 1970s. My family moved from Canberra to Castlemaine in the 70s, and Castlemaine then was a small country town. Very quickly I befriended a young man called Michael, and I am delighted to say that Michael remains quite literally my best friend in the world. We followed around the world together, and he now lives in Ballarat. A good percentage of our time in those days in the 70s was running in fear for Michael. Michael is very proudly gay, though of course in the 70s he was not out as a teenager, but he was pursued relentlessly by others who perhaps had decided before he had even entirely decided that he was gay. I bring this up because to me this motion speaks to something that is so incredibly important. The toolkit that we are discussing is really about making people feel comfortable, safe and included, and I know too well from those years with Michael in Castlemaine what it was to fear – to live in fear – and to not be included in society. When the rainbow libraries toolkit was designed, it was just a lovely moment, the thought that perhaps if a young Michael had been able to walk into a space and feel that acceptance and that inclusion, how different his childhood would be.

We often talk about how far we have got in the LGBTQI+ movement. I worked at Mardi Gras in the 1980s, and it was a very different world then. But some days one has to sit back and reflect. For all of the steps forward we have taken, there are these hideous steps backwards. When people choose to demonise the LGBTI community through methods like this petition against the toolkit – I know that I had a constituent come to me, and I was really pleased because he said, ‘Look, I’m getting all of this stuff’ from Mrs McArthur in the other place and all sorts of claims about the toolkit, and he asked me if I could explain to him how the toolkit worked. It was awful this sort of incendiary line that he had been fed. He said to me, ‘You know, they’re saying that librarians will be asking five-year-olds how they identify,’ and I do not think for a second any librarian is doing that or indeed that that is a part of the toolkit. To put that sort of rubbish out there that people start to believe and that a constituent actually has to make a meeting to come and see me to find out what the truth is – I think it is abhorrent that those on the other side are comfortable to feed this disinformation into the community solely so that they can kick down, frankly, on some of the more vulnerable in our community.

But as we progress forward, I got an email on Monday – and I know that my good colleague from Wendouree will have received the same – from a wonderful organisation and a wonderful woman that we know well, Ange Elson, who runs an organisation called Tiny Pride.

We are very, very proud of our Ballarat community. It is a really strong community with some fantastic advocates, right through to the wonderful coffee mornings where people can come together and feel included. But when Ange wrote to us on Monday, it was pretty tough to read. I will give you a couple of lines from it:

The past six months have been gruelling for the LGBTIQA+ community and the people that love us here in Ballarat. It’s fair to say that this stems from a feeling of watching our rights come under unprecedented attack and with that, a feeling of being less safe.

She goes on to tell us about a wide independent survey showing for the first time that people feeling safe to come out at work have decreased as a percentage of the community. For me that is absolutely heartbreaking. I have fought for 40, 50 years for LGBTQI rights, and to have them being wound back or the sense of the community feeling, for the first time in a long time, less safe is just appalling. I think those on the other side should be utterly ashamed that they stand by having a petition sent out with all sorts of rubbish in it about what the toolkit looks like solely to demonise people. They should be incredibly ashamed. They like to, as everyone says, speak out of two sides of their mouths. They come along to pride marches and pretend that they are there for the community, yet we know that they are running this sort of line to try and unsettle them. I do not know where the member for Brighton stands, but either way you cut it, either they are a divided party room and they have no unity of opinion, or he is speaking from both sides of his mouth. I suspect it is a unity issue, because I have spoken to the member for Brighton in the past. But they need to have a long, hard look at themselves and where they stand and create a unified voice.

Ange Elson sent this email not just to the member for Wendouree and me but to all of the allies in Ballarat. She was putting forth a suggestion. In fact she said:

We therefore warmly encourage you, as organisations committed to inclusion and wellbeing, to take a moment to check in with the LGBTIQA+ members of your teams, clients, and communities.

For the community in Ballarat to have to come to us and ask us to show more support, more loudly for them is just tragic. It is because of things like these petitions and this demonising that goes on endlessly from the other side.

As I said, I suspect it is more of a unity issue. I just cannot get a handle on the opposition’s position on anything. Just yesterday we heard the member for Brighton talking about how our Premier and our Treasurer were from the regions. We are incredibly proud of that. But they like to call us out-of-towners. Well, these out-of-towners have got a place in this place. And then they speak on the other side of their mouths and try and tell us that they represent regional people. There has got to be some sort of position from them. They have got to start taking a position on whether they support the LGBTQI community, and that requires that all of their members of this place show that same support. It is time for some strength to be shown by the Leader of the Opposition to call these groups in. But of course we know why he will not do that. We know how he got what he got – it was on those numbers. I think those on the other side really need to have a long, hard think.

I spent some time on election day on a booth in Hawke, and we were surrounded by members of the Brethren church – not only do they not vote, but certainly the reason they are supporting those on the other side is because they believe that they will support their agenda, which is about excluding and demonising our LGBTIQ community. If they send the Brethren along in 2026, I will be making sure that every person on that polling booth knows their position LGBTQI rights. If you get into bed with a dog, you get fleas. That is what those on the other side have done. If they are happy to get into bed with people with dreadful, exclusionary positions, then they are going to get fleas. The community of Victoria will know, and things like this objection to the rainbow toolkit will be remembered by all of our community and our young people.

Sitting suspended 6:30 pm until 7:31 pm.

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (19:31): I am certainly very happy to speak on this motion even though there is, can I say, a very sad element to the motion insofar as it concerns the relevant petition with regard to the rainbow libraries toolkits. There is a really important point in that, and one that I want to draw out as sort of a central theme that I think is actually critical when we have this discussion, and that is that I think within the opposition the left hand is talking to the right hand. The left and the right hand must know exactly what is going on, but the thing is, you have to be consistent everywhere. You cannot just say, ‘Right, I will turn up,’ and, say, march in the Pride March – I will speak about the Pride March soon – but then on another day or in another audience have a completely different frame which has a discriminatory element, because people are going to know. They are going to find out, aren’t they? They are going to know. Thinking that they will not know, or they will not acknowledge or they will not discern this disparity, this rather disturbing contradiction, if you like – I cannot even say it is naive; I think it must be known – is like, what can we get away with?

Am I being too blunt? I do not think so, because in the modern world we have social media 24/7, everything and everywhere we go. We know – and this is probably one of the challenges of being an MP more broadly – that just about everything we do is recorded in one way or another. But then again, should it matter whether it is recorded or not? I think within our own conscience, individually as MPs, it is knowing whether I am doing my absolute best to ensure everyone who I engage with is treated fairly, is honoured and is allowed to be loved just as they are, wherever they are.

I think that is probably what is so disturbing and apparent about the petition that is being spoken about in this motion; it really reflects the dreadful, dreadful inconsistency. And to think that the LGBTQI+ community would not notice – and not only that but allies of the LGBTQI+ community would not notice – because I would like to think that whether you are a member of the LGBTQI+ community or you are an ally, you are going to be deeply disturbed by this dreadful inconsistency. But of course the persons most hurt are members of the LGBTQI+ community.

As was asked earlier: why do you want to cause this upset and harm? And it is not only, as I think Minister Dimopoulos was saying, physical harm – of course that is an issue of itself; violence is never okay – but it is the emotional harm and the scars that may or may not heal. I do not think any of us here in this chamber would want to be complicit in any way in that picture, so to speak. Hence the imperative for action with mechanisms such as the rainbow library toolkits to provide a constructive and considered and sensitive way of ensuring that our libraries are safe places for everyone.

I think also with the recent federal election we could see how the culture wars really did not play out at all well, and nor should they. It is a relief to know that basic human decency has triumphed in that space. I was reflecting even recently that when I doorknock, I can honestly say that these fringe culture war elements just do not come up on the doors. Funnily enough, people are talking about other things that matter to them in their daily lives. They might talk about cost-of-living issues. There might be a matter with the local school. There might be a matter with a bus that they want to go to a certain spot – whatever it is, I honestly can say it is never about the fringe culture war that seems to be fostered perpetually by elements of the opposition parties.

If the federal election was not enough, it should be known within elements of being a good and decent human being that no good will ever come from fostering those kinds of really pernicious and underhanded and destructive elements that cause members of the LGBTQI+ community to feel in any way other or different in such a way that they are not treated fairly and equally. So I really hope that for the sake of the betterment of our Victorian community the opposition will reconsider the trajectory that they have been on to date in terms of not taking the necessary action that will lead to a fairer and kinder community overall, and I think that was stated earlier.

I do want to mention some local activities which I think are absolutely fantastic. I will get to the point of why. I did mention the Pride march before, and I am really very proud that it does occur each year in my electorate in St Kilda. Although we can be subjected to some pretty extreme temperatures at times – sometimes it is 40 degrees and standing in that oval can be pretty intense – it is always worth it of course because of that great sense of unity. But it is about visibility; it is about members of the LGBTQI+ community as paramount and also allies being there and supporting the LGBTQI+ community and making sure that it is safe for them to be heard, it is safe for them to be visible, it is safe for them to be proud. Discrimination is never okay, because as much as we would like to think, and certainly because of really positive and constructive action over many years, that we have come a long way, it is clear, as evidenced by the petition that this particular motion pertains to, that we still have a long way to go.

I was actually on JOY radio – then known as JOY Media – at the weekend, and they had their radiothon. It is a fantastic event each year. It is a fundraiser, but it is not so much about the sustainability of the radio station per se. That was made very clear to me by the producer. He said, ‘No, no, no, actually, we’re going really well,’ because not only have they listeners in Victoria, they have listeners across Australia and, lo and behold, all the way overseas as well. There are Americans and others who tune in. I may not be so surprised that there are people in the US who are tuning in in light of some of the less supportive elements that have evolved, unfortunately, in the United States when it comes to the LGBTQI+ community.

Nevertheless, the purpose of the radiothon is actually to help them reach more people in the LGBTQI+ community who may not be aware of all the services, the support services et cetera, that are out there for them. And they say that there are people who, if it were not for great communication channels such as Joy radio, might not be aware of what is out there. And I should say, in spite of some of the best efforts of government – of course we do everything we can, and I am not taking credit for that; I mean, there are good people on the front line who are doing their best to make sure that, whether it is legal services or, say, Thorne Harbour Health, which was mentioned before and which does a formidable job in terms of providing health care for the LGBTQI+ community – we can do more. Joy radio or Joy Media is an important voice for the LGBTQI+ community, and certainly I would encourage anyone who is not already doing so to support the radiothon, because it is only going to be good for our state because it will help more people to be aware of all the good work that they do.

And of course I could not end without talking about the beautiful, the exquisite and the very safe and supportive Pride Centre. I am very proud. That is certainly a testament to our government and others who have contributed to this magnificent safe space.

Nathan LAMBERT (Preston) (19:42): It is a pleasure to follow the member for Albert Park in her contribution on this motion, and indeed a pleasure to hear her finish with remarks on the Pride Centre, which is within her electorate in the south-east corner. I might even take this opportunity just to give a shout-out to a family member of ours Jack Migdalek, who volunteers down at the Pride Centre. I think Jack may at this hour still be back at home helping to look after our children, so a big thankyou to Jack on both of those fronts.

I do rise today, as other government speakers have done, to support strongly the motion from the Minister for Health:

That this house condemns the Shadow Minister for Equality for allowing his shadow colleagues to sponsor a petition attacking LGBTIQA+ people and calling for the cessation of the rainbow libraries toolkit.

It is a wonderful opportunity to talk about equality but also an opportunity to talk about libraries, which we do not always get in this place. Libraries have a very special place in the hearts of many of us. They are of course a place to learn and a place to read, but I also think for many of us they have at times been a refuge of sorts. They are a place to go and perhaps get away from other pressures in our society, and I know those of us of a certain age might even remember memorising the Dewey system back in the day.

Members interjecting.

Nathan LAMBERT: We love the Dewey system. Sometimes a slightly nostalgic sadness of mine that our –

A member interjected.

Nathan LAMBERT: Some of us remember it.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Edbrooke): Order! I have never seen so much excitement over the Dewey system, member for Preston.

Nathan LAMBERT: Indeed. As I was saying, Acting Speaker, I have a nostalgic sadness that our children will be on ChatGPT or whatever it is for them and perhaps the Dewey system will become less relevant. But certainly libraries are places where people of all ages come to learn and to connect but also to feel safe and accepted. It has particularly been the case for a long time now that for some young members of the LGBTIQA+ community libraries have been important. Libraries have sometimes been one of the public places where they can go and feel that their identities and their experiences are genuinely understood and affirmed rather than being ignored or in any way marginalised. And of course that is exactly why this government has been supporting libraries in that work they do, with the rainbow libraries toolkits and so forth. It is why we are seeking to ensure that particular affirmation and support those young people often get occurs everywhere across the state and consistently across the state by encouraging those libraries to use the right sorts of inclusive language, to have the right sorts of diverse book collections and indeed to run events. And we know of the pressures that some of those events have been under and that earlier speakers have alluded to, but we encourage libraries to understand the right way to run them to support young LGBTIQA+ members of our community and in that way support their families and thus support the true diversity of our state and our communities.

Recently I had the opportunity to head down to Preston library with the Minister for Local Government, along with councillors Emily Dimitriadis, Ruth Jelley and Matt Arturi and the CEO of Darebin Council Michael Tudball, and we had the chance to chat about a wide range of topics, including our local libraries and council compliance officers – a whole range of topics. We did not chat about this particular initiative, but that is only because there is simply full support within the Darebin community for the work that we are doing to support young LGBTIQA+ people in libraries. I think it did not come up because there is simply no disagreement with it. In fact we are very lucky to have libraries that are very welcoming and accepting spaces. We have a new library up in Reservoir that was upgraded with the support of this Labor government back in 2015, and it is a very welcoming space for that particular part of the Reservoir community. I think you can get along to toddler time there tomorrow. I think they may have rainbow story time up there. I cannot remember if it is there or at Preston library, but it is certainly, as I say, a welcoming space.

I may actually just touch on the fact that the former Reservoir library, the old building that is no longer used because we did upgrade the library in 2015, remains unused as of 2025. It has been now almost a decade that that building has been sitting there unused. I did have an opportunity a couple of years ago to talk to two local artists Tom Holloway and Jamie Clennett, who had an idea to turn it into an art space. Not much has come of that, and so the library site is still unused. Now is not the place for a long discussion about how Darebin council manage their assets, but that library space, unfortunately, as I say, continues to sit unused. Perhaps there comes a point where council thinks about selling it off and using the proceeds to purchase other community assets. I am not in any way suggesting they should privatise things, but just that, given they are not finding a use for that space, perhaps they can give it to others to find some use for it. I note that recently the Keon Park Stars, who are up in our part of the world, are looking for an upgrade to their sporting facilities. Certainly there is a need in that part of Reservoir for some more tree planting and more speed bumps. There are a lot of other community assets that could be built should they make that decision.

Coming back to the support that we have for our libraries, and particularly for the way they act as inclusive spaces, as I say, there is no debate in Darebin about that. In fact we have a lot of local examples of other initiatives that go to exactly the same end point. Recently I had a chance to chat to the team at Bridge Darebin about their fantastic Bridge Queer Gathering program. Minister Shing and I actually visited that program a couple of years ago, back when she was in the equality portfolio, and chatted to Chris Lombardo and Ramona Barry and others there about it. It is a program that in a similar fashion provides a space where young LGBTIQA+ people can come together. There are social functions, there are opportunities for discussion and there are also employment programs and training programs. It is still going strong a couple of years later. I saw they have a yoga event coming up shortly, for anyone listening who is interested. I can see you nodding, Acting Speaker Edbrooke. You may well be, I would imagine, a fan of yoga yourself, as am I, and there is an opportunity to get along to that in that space.

Similarly, we have a really important initiative in our part of the world, which is the transgender and gender diverse people in community health initiative, which runs out of Your Community Health on Blake Street, which is, again, strongly supported and funded by this government. It is a very important state-leading program. It has three components to it. Firstly, it provides direct health services to trans and gender-diverse people, both at that clinic on Blake Street but also at the Ballarat Community Health centre. I see the member for Wendouree nodding. She is probably familiar with the program as it runs out of that centre. In addition, Thorne Harbour Health help run a training program as part of that, where they train GPs on how to better support our trans and gender-diverse Victorians. Then finally, there is a fantastic peer navigation system that allows people from the LGBTIQA+ community broadly to come to their program and particularly those from the trans community and gender-diverse community to come and get some advice and support from their peers. I think one of the real merits of that program is the way in which it has been peer led and peer designed.

The Minister for Health, Minister Thomas, and I did have the opportunity the other day to meet there with Aoife, Bea, Connor, program manager Keira Leike and Alex as well. I think we also met earlier with Professor Jeffrey Zajac, who actually as I understand is from up the minister’s way and who is an important part of that program as well.

I should note if I can that that program was very much supported strongly by the former CEO of Your Community Health, Kent Burgess. Kent has just moved on. He has resigned as CEO, and he has headed to head up Windana. But he made a huge contribution to our community over the last four years, particularly with that program I have just mentioned, and we are very grateful to him for that contribution. We look forward to working with their interim CEO Liz Chondros and the rest of the amazing team.

I just give those examples as some of the many programs that operate in our part of the world and just show the very different attitude there to the attitude of the opposition referred to in this motion.

Unfortunately it is never perfect. We in fact had a vicious homophobic attack earlier this year where Mykey and Frank, a gay couple, were attacked with a machete in an event that is still being investigated by Victoria Police. Like many people here, I am sure we have supported other constituents who have been the subject of transphobic and homophobic attacks and other forms of really vicious discrimination.

I speak, as I have tonight, about some of these great initiatives in Darebin and some of the work that our libraries and other organisations do and the huge support in our community for the LGBTIQA+ community, who are very strongly represented numerically in our community. I end by just noting that of course that work continues to be important, because the job is not done, and that is what makes the attitude of some other members of this place so incredibly disappointing – that in the face of things like that, they are not joining with us in this government in pushing back as hard as we can against some of the historic and ongoing discrimination faced by our LGBTIQA+ community.

Luba GRIGOROVITCH (Kororoit) (19:52): It gives me great pleasure to rise to support the Minister for Health in tonight’s motion, to move:

That this house condemns the Shadow Minister for Equality for allowing his shadow colleagues to sponsor a petition attacking LGBTIQ+ people and calling for the cessation of the rainbow libraries toolkit.

I rise to speak on this matter that should be simple, but clearly, as we all know, it is not. Inclusion, safety and respect for all Victorians, especially our LGBTIQA+ communities, is non-negotiable, and it should be something that none of us ever forgo.

Let us start with the facts. Everybody deserves to live free from discrimination, and that is why we were the first state in this country to appoint a commissioner for the LGBTIQA+ communities back in 2015. While the Liberals are busy counting petition signatures, we are counting real investments, which we make on a daily basis for all Victorians. That is why the Allan Labor government has invested $25 million to deliver the nation’s first Pride centre in St Kilda, and it was great to hear the contributions from the local member there. We have opened QHubs in Geelong and Ballarat to help address mental health and wellbeing inequalities for LGBTIQA+ young people and their families. We have invested $28.8 million over four years to support integrated and early intervention legal assistance, including continuing the Q+Law specialist LGBTIQA+ legal service. This builds on the $161 million invested through the 2022–23 state budget to support specialist LGBTIQA+ legal services and drive important improvements in the legal sector for the LGBTIQA+ communities.

In the last state budget alone we invested $3 million over four years to continue our nation-leading work in supporting Victoria’s LGBTIQA+ communities. All of this builds on the historic investment of $22.5 million in the 2023–24 state budget that allows us to deliver on our 2022 election commitments that laid the foundations to deliver this groundbreaking reform across our state. This includes the $1.85 million for Rainbow Health Australia to deliver inclusion training, which will service up to 400 organisations, helping them to improve the LGBTIQA+ inclusion in their workplaces. The rainbow libraries toolkit costs less than – well, let’s be honest – the coffees here at Parliament House, but apparently it is the actual hill that the Liberals want to die on. It is not a radical agenda; it is a PDF.

The fact that the opposition cannot handle that says more about them, who, can I say, are a little bit scarce. They are clearly not too interested in this debate. There is no-one here apart from one member.

Tim Bull: Acting Speaker, given this is a motion brought on by the government, you would think it would be of importance to them. I draw your attention to the state of the house.

Quorum formed.

Luba GRIGOROVITCH: I clearly hit a nerve. As I was saying, if this is the hill that the Liberals want to die on, then so be it. But to us it is something that is incredibly, incredibly important. As I mentioned, it is not a radical agenda, it is a PDF. The fact that the opposition cannot handle that says more about them than it does about this toolkit. The rainbow libraries toolkit is a staff resource. It is not a public program. It is not a drag queen story time. It is a guide developed by Public Libraries Victoria in consultation with Switchboard Victoria and with input, most importantly, from the staff and also the communities that care about this grouping. It provides practical advice on how to make libraries more inclusive for LGBTIQA+ Victorians and all of us. It includes guidance on planning inclusive events, making spaces visibly welcoming and building collections that reflect community diversity. It is a response to something very, very real.

Let us not pretend that in 2025 LGBTIQA+ people, especially young people, do not still face discrimination and isolation, because everyone in this place knows that they do. That is why this is so very important. Calling for the end of a resource that promotes inclusion is like banning umbrellas because you do not like rainbows. We have seen a sharp rise in abuse directed at inclusive library events, and it is completely unacceptable. Fringe groups are targeting drag story times, and library staff are feeling so threatened that they have to call up local members of Parliament and, worse still, the police. Families have been intimidated. In the face of this, what did our public libraries ask for? They asked us for help, not headlines. They just asked for help, and we gave them that support. We delivered it with a $14,000 investment – not a huge amount, $14,000 – to create a resource to help staff manage inclusion respectfully and safely. That is what the rainbow libraries toolkit is.

Let us talk about what this is really about. I know the truth hurts, but last year a member for Western Victoria Region, Bev McArthur, tabled a petition with more than 4000 signatures calling for the end of this resource. That is right. Our librarians asked for help, and they over there – I can say, respectfully, they are not here – got a petition. The petition is not against hate, not against violence, but against a staff toolkit, something that was there to help our library staff. Worse, this petition clearly has the backing of the Leader of the Opposition. Meanwhile, the Shadow Minister for Equality has remained absolutely silent – not a word – similar to the Leader of the Opposition, who has not said a word during this debate or discussion, yet members of his own party are actively campaigning against inclusion. Let me say this plainly: you cannot be the Shadow Minister for Equality and stay silent when your team attacks the LGBTIQA+ communities. You cannot stay silent.

Silence is the face of bigotry. It is not strength, it is surrender. And it is not just this petition; it seems to be a horrible pattern of the Liberal–National opposition. This is the same party that opposed Safe Schools, opposed birth certificate reform, refuses to condemn transphobia and now vows to scrap the rainbow libraries toolkit if elected. This is a deliberate choice to use inclusion as a political football and to dog whistle to the fringe rather than to lead from the centre. It is easy to say, ‘We don’t tolerate hate’ when you are not in government, but it is harder to prove it when you are handing out shadow ministry roles to the very people promoting this division.

Let us not forget what is at stake. For many young people, especially in regional Victoria, a public library might be the only place that they truly feel safe and that they truly feel like they can be themselves. For some it is the very first time they have seen themselves reflected in a book, in a program or in a space that says, ‘Hey, you actually belong.’ These moments might seem small, especially to those who are absent from the chambers, but they are life-changing. We have had many wonderful contributions from many of my colleagues on this side of the floor today, and it does matter. This toolkit helps our staff create this space. We are not going to back down, because in Victoria we do not debate whether LGBTIQA+ people deserve respect. We do not entertain petitions that seek to wind back progress, and we do not turn our backs on the very communities we claim to represent. This government always has and always will stand on the side of equality, and that is not going to change. It is non-negotiable for us, and we will always stand with this community.

John LISTER (Werribee) (20:02): I think this is a really important motion to be talking to tonight, particularly ahead of IDAHOBIT Day on the 17th, something that was marked at my old school, Wyndham Central College, with things like stalls that we would run or different programs that we would run, all to try and break down those barriers between children who might be LGBTIQA+ or have other sorts of gender or sexual identities. But I also think it is really important to talk about this in the context of libraries and access to libraries and how important they are as a safe space for young people.

For generations, libraries have been that safe space. The Minister for Local Government earlier in his contribution cited data that 92 per cent of people feel safe when they go to their local libraries. I have had a lot to say about my local libraries in Wyndham lately, especially their lack of opening hours in certain parts of the region. But I think what Wyndham City Council and the community have done with our libraries in the area around creating safe spaces where people can go and explore the world of literature or access information technology is really important.

Libraries were really important for me as well as I was growing up in the suburbs, because quite often it was one of those few third spaces that you would have away from home or away from school, a workplace or somewhere where you would have to pay money to sit down, like a cafe or going to KFC. You want to try and get to somewhere –

Members interjecting.

John LISTER: It is worth it for the chips, right? You cannot take the chips into the library; you will get told off. That is probably one of the few reasons why you should be told off for being in a library. It should not be about your identity or who you are. It is probably because you are bringing in hot food and you might damage the collection. But I digress.

In my case, growing up in Werribee, having a space bigger than the kitchen table to study for exams was really important. Many of my friends and my really close friends, including Carl, who works at the St Albans Library, work across Melbourne’s west in these different libraries, and the programs that they run deliver for a cross-section of our community, whether that be people who are older in our community or maybe retired, all the way back down to the mums and bubs reading programs that they do.

This motion today is an important reflection of the need to make sure these places remain safe for everyone, regardless of their background. Those opposite raise community safety quite often in this place, yet when resources to help ensure the safety of staff and patrons in libraries are distributed, they have members of their party twisting and contorting it into frankly scary ideological debates. Looking at the petition that was tabled by Mrs McArthur in the other place, she talked about how many more will feel uncomfortable, insecure or confused about having these resources and strategies set up for staff at libraries to help work with our rainbow community.

As someone who has worked in schools very recently, practices were being endorsed and shared – as internal resources, might I say; it is not something that was going to get handed out as a brochure as you walked into the library – for staff in response to some frankly horrific behaviour by people who sometimes swim very close to those opposite. Having those internal resources to be able to empower staff is really important. It is something that we have seen in our state schools and in our independent schools around how we can better support our LGBTIQA+ students.

It was quite important for me when I was teaching to discreetly ask what a student would want to be referred to, their pronouns or even just their name as well. I think that is an important part about getting to know the people that you are working with. It is about showing respect to those other people. It is not something that I would broadcast to an entire class of 25 students – you would do it one on one or in a small group; but we would always reinforce the need for respect in our classrooms, and I think the same thing should be expected in our libraries as well. The colleagues of those opposite like to throw child safety into this maelstrom of spite they spurn, and as someone who has very recently worked in the space of child safety I can say that what they criticise in their petition and in the media is in no way a threat to child safety; rather, it is a responsive and considerate approach to recognising diversity.

One of my other passions, as many people on this side know, is that I am very much a literary type. I have come as an English teacher into this place, and some of my learned colleagues have mentioned the Dewey decimal system. I just want to reflect on the Dewey decimal system a little bit here, because I think it goes to something that Mrs McArthur and some of the Australian Christian Lobby friends might not recognise about our libraries – that LGBTIQA+ culture, writing, stories are already in our libraries. You can already find them in our libraries. In fact if you go to 306.76 in the Dewey system, it is sexual orientation. 306.764 looks at heterosexuality. 306.765 looks at bisexuality – and I do apologise to Hansard for this. 306.766 deals with homosexuality. 306.7662 is male homosexuality. 306.7663 is lesbianism, though is a bit old fashioned to refer to it as that, but anyway. 306.768 is transgenderism, which is, again, a little bit of an old-fashioned term but nothing that Mrs McArthur might not be familiar with when we are talking about old-fashioned. 306.7685 also refers to intersexuality. I know I have just gone through a whole heap of the Dewey decimal system, but I would like to highlight that there are a lot of issues with the system that we use, with the Dewey decimal system, and we do need to think about some other ways of categorising the very varied and dynamic LGBT community that we have when it comes to presenting these stories in our libraries.

I reflected before that people opposite may want this sort of thing out of our libraries and away from public discourse, but for at least 87 years we have had authors writing these stories and presenting them in our public libraries. The infamous poet WH Auden was believed to be quite fluid in his sexuality and wrote poems like Lullaby to describe these feelings. If you are looking to find WH Auden in the library, you need to look under 821.912, which I believe is modern literature, 20th century literature specifically. I am making my mother proud – as a librarian herself she would probably think that I am a massive nerd for remembering a few of these Dewey decimal things.

But WH Auden wrote in 1937 in his poem Lullaby, and I think it is quite apt, given the late sitting tonight, but also to bring a little bit more calm to the chamber:

Lay your sleeping head, my love,

Human on my faithless arm;

Time and fevers burn away

Individual beauty from

Thoughtful children, and the grave

Proves the child ephemeral:

But in my arms till break of day

Let the living creature lie,

Mortal, guilty, but to me

The entirely beautiful.

If you continue to read that poem, you would see it is actually a beautiful poem, and if I was back teaching English we would probably be analysing that.

To go back to what this comes to, it is about making sure that we hold people to account for what they do in this place, presenting these petitions and endorsing views that are frankly abhorrent. Looking back at the terrible events that led to the creation of this resource for libraries in 2023 – and I think the Minister for Equality on this side referenced these same issues – we did see those people disrupting drag story time, which is absurd. It is such a colourful, amazing time. Drag story time is fantastic, and drag culture is a beautiful thing here in Victoria. It is so beautiful in fact that we even see drag performers wanting to be Liberal Party members, in Belinda Gread, who I know the member for Prahran is quite a fan of. Although unfortunately Belinda Gread could no longer run for the Liberal Party in the federal election and she had to go on and create her own independent party, I think we should not be scared of drag culture; it is a fantastic, vibrant thing.

In concluding, I would like to say that as the member for Werribee and as a former teacher we need to make sure that we create safe spaces for our LGBTIQA+ community.

Paul MERCURIO (Hastings) (20:12): I am happy to stand and speak to this motion:

That this house condemns the Shadow Minister for Equality for allowing his shadow colleagues to sponsor a petition attacking LGBTIQ+ people and calling for the cessation of the rainbow libraries toolkit.

Actually I am not happy to stand and talk about this motion, because I cannot believe that in 2025 in Australia this sort of ignorance, fearmongering, stupidity, immaturity and intolerance still exists, is still going on, is still being talked about, is still being encouraged and is still considered acceptable. I am flabbergasted, I am disappointed, I am angry, I am outraged and, most of all, I am sad. I am sad for those people that fear other people who are a bit different. I am sad for those people that are so scared about their own selves that they have to take it out on other people who are a little bit different. I am sad that we have people in government and people in positions of power that feel that taking those people that are slightly different to them and taking away their power or their identity is going to make them feel better, feel safer, feel smarter, feel superior or feel more. I am sad that in 2025 we are still burning books and witches at the stake – well, figuratively, and also literally – and that that mindset still exists and thrives in some people’s hearts and minds.

I do understand what it feels like to be seen as that person who was a little bit different and therefore not understood and misunderstood by people. Often when people fear things, their instinct is to want to destroy it. As a young dancer people were afraid of me because they thought I was gay. Actually they were afraid of themselves, but because I must be gay, they wanted to beat me up, and indeed I did get beaten up a couple of times. I remember many nights coming home from ballet classes and waiting for the 625 bus in Fremantle to take me home to Coolbellup. I would be on high alert because there would be a souped-up Torana, normally yellow, doing circuits around all the bus stops in Fremantle looking for someone that those people in the car perceived to be different to them. They wanted to beat them up, and as the car would come round the corner, I would quickly run up the mall and hide behind some trees. I would hear the car stop. They would wait for a while. They could not see anyone, and so they would drive off. I would come out of my hiding place and I would run back to the bus stop, and I would hope like heck that the bus would come before the car came around again.

I was not the problem. The fact that I was a bit different to them was not the problem. They did not even know I was a ballet dancer. They were the problem – their ignorance, their fear, their need to shrink their world so that it fitted in their naive, angry, small-minded world so somehow they could feel safe and they could feel valued and honoured.

But shrinking the world and making others feel worthless only damages humanity, our community and our own selves. This idea that the Shadow Minister for Equality and his shadow colleagues could sponsor a petition attacking the LGBTQIA+ community and call for the cessation of rainbow libraries toolkits is exactly that.

I love books. Books are a window into the soul. I love stories. As a performer, I have been a storyteller all my life. As I said in my inaugural speech, stories are what nourish us. They feed the soul, the body and the mind. They do this whether you tell them through dance or acting or a dish you cook and serve to loved ones, friends or strangers. Stories give us inspiration and they give us hope. Why does the Shadow Minister for Equality want to rip hope away from one group of people and not another? Why is the Shadow Minister for Equality supporting his shadow colleagues in attacking a group of people that are just a little bit different to them – a group of people that laugh the same, cry the same and bleed the same as him and indeed the same as me and the same as every other person in this chamber? I am talking about humanity. I do not really see people as being different. We are all equal in our own imperfect, weird way, and that is something to rejoice, not fear. This is what makes the world go around. Fear builds nothing. It only destroys. Embracing our uniqueness, our differences and our diversity builds things. It builds and strengthens our community, our understanding of each other and our tolerance to our differences. It strengthens our curiosity, our considered nature and our desire to listen, to learn, to be inclusive. It creates our capacity to unconditionally love one another, a concept perhaps not shared by those who wish to attack those that are different to them.

What we are also talking about with the Shadow Minister for Equality and his shadow colleagues, figuratively, is that they are marching into a library and dictating to staff and customers, to mums and dads, to grandpas and grandmas and to kids what they can and cannot do, what they can and cannot read. This is outrageous. One of my favourite books that I read many, many years ago is Fahrenheit 451. The novel explores themes like conformity, individuality and the power of information and has been seen as controversial by some, particularly those who are concerned about challenging societal norms. It tells the story of Guy Montag and his transformation from a book-burning fireman to a book-reading rebel. Montag lives in an oppressive society that attempts to eliminate all sources of complexity, contradiction and confusion to ensure uncomplicated happiness for all its citizens. If the Shadow Minister for Equality thinks that banning rainbow libraries toolkits – and in doing so controlling the books boys and girls, mums and dads and adults can read – is going to ensure uncomplicated happiness for all of his constituents, then he and his colleagues have completely lost the plot.

I am pretty tired of watching the LGBTQIA+ community being bashed. I have watched it for years. I said in my inaugural speech that I was part of the queer community, even though I did not know I was part of the queer community because we did not call it that. The 1970s and 80s were a very difficult time for the queer community, and they were brutal times. Sometime in the 80s, and I cannot remember exactly when, a very good family friend of mine and a best mate of my brother, a fellow actor–dancer–performer, was brutally bashed in Oxford Street on a lovely summer’s evening by three men. ‘Carrot’ was his nickname because he had a mop of red hair and freckles. He was a very beautiful, caring young man, naive and innocent, and he had the world ahead of him. He was bashed to death on that street by those three brutes because they thought he was gay. Whether he was or was not does not matter. They killed him because of their ignorance – their fear of people who are different. This is what happens when you start to attack minority groups or people who are different: you give others permission to do the same. Yes, the 1970s and 80s were brutal. Carrot was not the first or last. So it was great to finally see in the 90s that queer people, LGBTQIA+ people, were starting to be recognised and accepted as humans, as people who are different but who were beginning to be accepted as part of the fabric of our community. Sorry, Acting Speaker; I went a little bit heavy then.

I do not suggest that banning the rainbow kids kits is going to incite this kind of thing. I would like to think that the 70s and 80s are well and truly behind us, but you can look around some countries and, sadly, they are not.

We are supposed to be leaders in this place. We are supposed to be leaders in our communities. So I would ask the Shadow Minister for Equality to stand up and be a leader for equality. I would ask that the shadow ministers who support this petition stand up and be leaders – be leaders for equality, not fear and not hate. Libraries are a safe space. They hold knowledge that gives inspiration and books that give opportunity and bring joy to those who hold them and embrace them. Libraries are not a battleground for ignorance and fear. Libraries are where knowledge, freedom of expression and love for all things should be nurtured and grown. I condemn the action the Shadow Minister for Equality is enabling, and I ask that he be a leader for equality, not fear.

Jordan CRUGNALE (Bass) (20:21): I just want to acknowledge the heartfelt, direct and very poignant contribution that my colleague, the member for Hastings, just made.

My Shadow Is Pink, written and illustrated by Scott Stuart:

For Colin.

You are loved. Exactly as you are.

My dad has a shadow that’s blue as can be, and there’s nothing but blue in my whole family tree.

But mine is quite different, it’s not what you think.

For mine is not blue …

My shadow is PINK!

My shadow loves ponies and books and pink toys, princesses, fairies, and things “not for boys”.

But there’s one thing it likes most I have found …

It loves wearing dresses and dancing around!

It spins …

and it sparkles …

and it twirls through the air!

Then stops as my Dad walks in with a stare.

It will turn blue one of these days.

Don’t worry he says,

it is JUST a phase.

Dad’s shadow is blue, it is big, it is strong. But when I stand with it I just feel so wrong.

I wish mine was blue like all of the others, I wish mine was blue like my Dad’s and my brothers.

I’d be part of the group, of that there’s no doubt, but I cannot fit in when my shadow stands out!

Now things are all changing and that is not cool. I’m ready to start my first day at school.

YOU’LL NEED:

• pencils

• and books

• and lunch you must bring.

DRESS UP with your shadow! (in its favourite thing)

My heart skips a beat as I put on a dressand I look at my Dad who is anxious and stressed.

He takes me to class and I turn to say bye,

His face is all worried, there’s fear in his eyes.

So I step in the doorway and puff out my chest … One thing is clear … I’m not like the rest.

I try to say hi but my voice is too quiet.

The kids turn around and the room, it goes silent.

I run out the door and I push past my Dad

I run to my house feeling angry and sad.

If my shadow was blue I’d be there making friends. I’d be laughing and playing and drawing with pens.

I rip off my dress, throw it down to the floor. I won’t wear it again. Not ever. No more.

Just then at my door came a soft little knock …

It’s my Dad walking in and I look up in shock.

Both he and his shadow in dresses they stood!

With shimmering seams and pink sparkling hoods!

He speaks in a voice that’s quite soft but is stern.

Pick up that dress! You must listen and learn.

Your shadow is pink, I see now it’s true.

It’s not just a shadow, it’s your inner-most you.

He showed me the photos of parents and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and others.

“We’ve all had a shadow that’s hidden from eyes. Sometimes our shadow, it lives in disguise.

His shadow loves painting and fashion and art.

Her shadow loves engines and powerful cars.

His shadow loves dance with its turns and its twirls.

Her shadow she hides it, her shadow likes girls.

His shadow loves theatre and acting and plays.

Her shadow loves science and planets and space.

Your shadow is YOU and pink it will be,

so stand up with your shadow and yell THIS IS ME!

And some they will love you … and some they will not.

But those that do love you they’ll love you a lot.

So put on that dress, and get back to school, if someone won’t like you then THEY are the fool.

My heart nearly burst and my shadow it soared!

I picked up the dress and wore it once more.

We ran out the door, this time holding hands.

My Dad and our shadows, together we stand.

I stride in my class and I puff out my chest, I may be different, but different is best.

I join a small group, though in I don’t blend, they look up and smile.

Will you be our friend?

This is one of the books that I give out to my schools and kinders, alongside many books celebrating diversity, cultures, language and inclusion. I will say that it is one of the prized books that is revered and that kids are happy with at my schools. Children everywhere deserve and need space and opportunities to find themselves, to journey and to find universes, including in libraries, that create that space. We know librarians and libraries change and save lives every day, and this toolkit is to assist them in doing that work.

We had drag story time here at Parliament a couple of years ago, organised by then Minister for Equality Harriet Shing. Why? Because in the broader community it had been shut down by people who do not think there should be a space for drag artists to undertake that work. It was a truly heartfelt show of unity and solidarity against the most disgraceful scenes we had seen across Victoria against our LGBTIQ+ community at that time. So we see you, we hear you, and you have our unequivocal support, because everyone deserves to feel safe, visible, respected and supported.

So I rise today with pride, with hope and with an unwavering commitment to equality for all Victorians. I rise in support of the rainbow libraries toolkit, a powerful, vital initiative that reaffirms a truth we hold dear on our side of the house: that in Victoria equality is not negotiable.

I wish to address a matter that also demands condemnation from this house. They are a great disappointment – as we have heard from other contributions – the actions of the Shadow Minister for Equality, who allowed his colleagues to sponsor a petition attacking our LGBTIQA+ community and calling for the cessation of the rainbow libraries toolkit. Let us call it for what it is: a betrayal, not just of our rainbow communities but of the very principles of equality, inclusion and respect. To oppose this toolkit is to oppose the right of LGBTIQA+ Victorians to feel safe in a public place and space. It is to oppose the right of children to see themselves in the stories they read. It is to oppose the dignity of human beings based on who they are and who they love. On this side of the house we stand united in condemning such actions. We cannot allow discrimination to masquerade as debate, and we cannot allow prejudice to hide behind petitions.

Libraries have and always will be more than just buildings filled with books. They are centres of community life, sanctuaries of learning and spaces of safety and inclusion. For generations Victorians have walked through library doors seeking knowledge, but many have also walked through those doors seeking acceptance, belonging and a place where they are free to be themselves. The rainbow libraries toolkit is a continuation of that legacy. It is an internal resource developed with care, with compassion and with a clear-eyed understanding of the challenges facing our LGBTIQA+ communities and children. This toolkit supports libraries across our state in providing visible, inclusive spaces – spaces where no Victorian is made to feel like they are other and where no child is told, implicitly or explicitly, that their identity is a problem to be hidden or debated.

It saddens me deeply to acknowledge that this work has become more necessary than ever. We are witnessing a disturbing rise in the vilification and targeting of the LGBTIQA+ communities. Public libraries, those very places designed to be welcoming and open to all, have become the front line in this conflict. Events like drag story times, created to uplift and engage rainbow young people, have been disrupted and attacked by fringe groups that do not speak for the majority of Victorians. Let us be clear: these attacks are not just disruptions of public events, they are acts of harm. They target staff, they traumatise young people and they send a chilling message to the LGBTIQ+ community that they are not welcome in public life, and this is unacceptable. So we respond not with silence or neutrality, but with action. The rainbow libraries toolkit is one such action, and it provides guidance for library staff on hosting inclusive events.

It offers frameworks for making spaces visibly inclusive, and it helps libraries assess and diversify their collections so that all stories, rainbow stories, are represented and celebrated.

17 May marks IDAHOBIT, and on this day back in 1990 the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the classification of diseases, a significant milestone, but the work did not end there. Today, over three decades later, our fight for equality continues. We still live in a world where too many people face rejection, violence and systemic discrimination simply because of who they are. While we have made strides here in Victoria, we must acknowledge that progress is fragile. It must be protected, nourished and reinforced, especially by those of us privileged to serve in this place. The toolkit is one way to protect that progress. It is a practical expression of our government’s commitment to Victoria’s first whole-of-government strategy Pride in Our Future: Victoria’s LGBTIQA+ Strategy 2022–32, a road map to ensure all Victorians feel safe, have equal rights and live wholly and freely. It is not just a toolkit, it is a message. It says to every rainbow person: you matter, you belong, your stories are worth telling.

Gary MAAS (Narre Warren South) (20:31): I too rise to make a contribution to the motion that has been moved by our Minister for Health, the member for Macedon, this evening. Do you know what, in many respects it really is a matter for public health as well as being a matter for equality. In this place we have a party, a major party, that purports to be the alternative government in this state and that indeed appears to not want to govern for a particular section of the Victorian community. I find it absolutely astounding that here we are in 2025 and we still have being espoused the sorts of views that we are seeing here.

I always think to myself that we are here to govern for everyone. Equality is not negotiable. It cannot be. We must have a set of values that we live towards and that we work towards to make every Victorian’s life better and easier. I have begun a few of my speeches this week with this notion of values and that you can live by them and that you can die by them. When you live by your values, in the most extraordinary country in the world and in the most extraordinary state that we are all blessed to live in, you are able to make a positive contribution to everyone that is here. But this idea that you fall into a trap where – what is it, some 4000 signatures or something – you have a petition that actually creates grievances goes down this very Trumpian path that we see, unfortunately, with our friends in the United States of America.

A little while ago I was in the United States attending a conference, and the conference was around media communications. Yes, there were a lot of progressives at that conference, and in speaking to progressives in America about the sorts of things that they were organising around and the sorts of issues they were trying to improve, I must admit I was so glad to be from a country such as Australia.

The notion that there are states in America that have banned particular books, that do not have particular books in their library because those books have a lot to do with gender identity – it just makes no sense to me whatsoever. We pride ourselves on being the Education State here, and when it comes to education, books are for everyone. I might agree with some that the Dewey decimal system is a scam. Let us face it, I think Kramer got it right when he said that. The Dewey decimal system is a scam – it is outrageous. But I am so happy that in this state we can walk into any library and go to 306.75 and we are able to read and educate ourselves on those matters.

I still shake my head in disbelief, but a wise person once told me that if you keep following a particular path, you will get to where you are going, and I am very sad to say that for the Liberal Party in this state, for the group that wants to call themselves the alternative government, a recent federal election has shown us that they are going to get to where they are going, and that is to non-existence in this state of Victoria.

Public libraries are a vibrant community hub, and they provide all Victorians with universal access to information. They are safe spaces and they should always be safe spaces. We were just having a discussion about this, the rainbow libraries toolkit, and you know what, a lot has been made of what is a four-page PDF document. It is not a toolkit per se, but it is actually just advice for our librarians to be able to assist them with members of the public. A lot has been made of that document. All it does is support our libraries across the state to ensure that all Victorians, regardless of their identity, have a place in our public libraries. Because the very nature of government is about consultation, speaking to your communities – not excluding them, speaking to them – the toolkit was prepared in response to a need for better information and training to support public library staff welcoming LGBTIQA+ families into public libraries. Unfortunately it was following a rise in the vilification of those communities and the targeting of LGBTIQA+ inclusive events, including drag story time events for young people held at libraries.

The Shadow Minister for Equality normally has a very loud voice on all things. I know it is a very loud voice because quite often my noise environment decibel meter will go off on my watch – I will feel it buzzing when it hits 90 dB. But strangely on matters like this it is very quiet. It is very quiet in here – very quiet, and it is really unusual. Yet, Shadow Minister for Equality, why don’t you stand up for Victorians? Why don’t you stand up for the whole community? I dare say in the lead-up to November next year that is what you are going to be trying to do, but there is nothing. The Victoria that all of us on this side of the chamber – and increasingly more on this side of the chamber – believe in is a fully inclusive Victoria, one that allows every single Victorian to achieve their potential.

The very notion that we would exclude anyone from our community is anathema to this party. It is anathema to this government. I find it extraordinary to say this, but we just cannot trust the Liberals to stand up for equality. Their record speaks for itself. This government will always back our LGBTIQA+ communities as we work to build a state where all people, regardless of their sexuality or their gender identity, can live wholly and freely. It is one of the hallmarks of good governments that they govern for all, and we will govern for all and not just for the angry few, dare I say bigoted, people in this state.

At this point I would like to thank all of my colleagues who have spoken to this motion tonight. It does not take courage really, does it? It is actually easy to get up and speak for your fellow Victorians so that ultimately they can have a fair go in this incredible state that we are all fortunate to live in. I thank the member for Macedon for putting this motion forward this evening and giving me the opportunity to speak to it. I commend the motion to the house.

Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (20:41): I share the views of the member for Narre Warren South that it is so important that we do this but it is easy. We are not compromised in any way because this is who we are and what we believe in. That is why I am happy to contribute to the motion moved by the manager of government business that this house condemns the Shadow Minister for Equality for allowing his shadow colleagues to sponsor a petition attacking LGBTIQ+ people and calling for the cessation of the rainbow libraries toolkit.

What a line-up of incredible humans we have in the Labor caucus. We are just a wonderful group of people, so I really want to thank and commend the Minister for Health, the Minister for Equality, the Minister for Local Government and the members for Hastings, Eureka, Albert Park, Preston, Werribee, Hastings and Bass. I love our caucus. How good are we? Sorry, I forgot the member for Kororoit. What an exceptional group of people we are, from different backgrounds, all bringing a unique perspective to this. I think that our being here is about showing our values, who we are and what is important to us. I really look forward to the other contributions, because this stuff matters. I will talk about why it does matter, but it matters so much.

I am really proud to be a rainbow ally in my community of Ballarat. I support LGBTI+, trans and gender-diverse people in my electorate, as well as across Ballarat, across our state and across our nation. I do so because I support inclusive communities. I do so because I support public libraries and our librarians for the work that they do to build social cohesion. I want lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender-diverse, intersex, queer and asexual Victorians to be free to live the lives they want to live and to love who they want to love. I want parents to feel supported, and I always stand with our rainbow families. Being a schoolteacher and seeing kids struggle with gender identity and with who they are, I know it is so much easier for the kids who have parents who are supportive. For the parents who struggle, it is so hard for them as well. This is what this motion is about. This is what these toolkits are about. It is about making everyone’s life easier. That is what we do.

I will not tolerate homophobia and I will not tolerate transphobia. I love going to ChillOut. I am so proud to be there with Rainbow Labor. For those who do not know, ChillOut is in Daylesford and it is for regional Victorians. It is harder to be LGBTIQ+ in regional Victoria. It is tough in Melbourne, but it is tougher in regional Victoria, but we are changing that, and that is what ChillOut does. When you walk with the federal member for Ballarat Catherine King and you walk with the member for Macedon, who brought on this motion, and you walk with the Minister for Equality, people are so proud to see Labor there. Not only do we turn up at the ChillOut festival but we turn up every day. The community knows that we do this, and they cheer for us because they know we are on their side. Everyone in this chamber, bar one, is on their side, I would say.

This is what we keep doing. I am proud that Victoria leads the nation in fostering inclusive communities where everyone can live safely. We heard the member for Hastings talk about safety – a man murdered because of who he was. It is just devastating, such a devastating story, and the ripple effect of that on all his friends many decades later and the impact that it still has on the member for Hastings is profound. But this is what we do. We are stopping those types of incidents. We are stopping those hate crimes by standing up. By standing up in our libraries, by standing up in our parliaments and by standing up in our schools – and it is great to have the Minister for Education here as well – we are saying to the community that we will stop these hate crimes and we will not allow them to happen on our watch.

Locally we are doing really great things in Ballarat. One of the most important initiatives is that we have got QHub in my electorate of Wendouree. QHub is the most beautiful space. It is a Labor government funded initiative. It is about youth mental health and social connection programs, delivered in partnership with Drummond Street Services, Queerspace, Wellways and CAFS Ballarat. QHub is a safe space in Ballarat for young lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender-diverse, intersex, queer and asexual people and, importantly, their families to get support and find connection. It is transforming and saving lives. It was co-designed with communities. Ballarat QHub is a safe, affirming and inclusive space for youth aged up to 25, providing access to crucial mental health support, social connection opportunities and wellbeing activities. I give a shout-out to everyone who works at QHub. You are just the best.

I am really proud that Mike and I have raised our children in our family to respect everyone for who they are. And they do – they call out homophobia, and they call out transphobia. Jo was telling me when she came home from school the other day that she was walking out of school and another girl was making fun of someone who had he/him pronouns. Johanna just called it out; she did not let it pass. She said, ‘No, it’s he/him, right?’ And they were like, ‘But we go to an all-girls school.’ ‘No, we go to a school with lots of different people in it.’ The conversation is changing, and it is really, really great. I have conversations with my children that I never had with my parents, and I am sure a lot of us can talk about that. I am so proud when my girls sit down with my mum, and Mum will say something and the girls will say, ‘No, Grandma, you’re not allowed to say things like that. Grandma, what do you think you’re doing?’ They are so good; they do not want anyone to feel excluded or not able to be who they are. I am immensely proud of them for making their school safer. I know there are a whole lot of people who have important younger people in their lives, and I am sure they are doing really good things as well. So thank you to everyone who is raising the next generation of inclusive and open-minded people.

But these open-minded people are not everywhere, sadly. It really upsets me that two members of my Western Victoria Region are Bev McArthur and Joe McCracken – two people who do not speak for me. They do not speak for my kids, they do not speak for their friends and they do not speak for who we are in Ballarat. I reject their views, I oppose their bigotry and I oppose their attacks on my community members. What is it about the rainbow toolkit that causes so much offence to Bev McArthur in the other place? Well, according to the Premier’s media release titled ‘Rainbow libraries toolkit launches on Wear It Purple Day’ on Friday 30 August 2024:

The toolkit was established in response to a need for better information and training to support public library staff welcoming LGBTIQA+ families into public libraries, following a rise in the vilification of LGBTIQA+ communities and targeting of LGBTIQA+ inclusive events, including drag story time events for rainbow young people held at libraries.

The media release goes on to say:

The Allan Labor Government allocated $14,020 through the Public Libraries Funding Program 2023–2024 to develop the toolkit in consultation with Switchboard Victoria –

and a shout-out to Switchboard Victoria and the great work that they do.

To be clear, one of my upper house members for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, has called on the government to cease the rollout of the rainbow libraries toolkit, a toolkit that is about providing better information and making people feel welcome in a public space. That is what outrages her – better information and something that will make people feel more welcome. Mrs McArthur does this, and I quote her petition, because:

Parents should not have to worry that a visit to the library could confuse or indoctrinate their children.

I could not disagree more. The toolkit does not need to be feared, but words of hate do need to be feared. Words matter. The words of President Trump matter. The words of Peter Dutton matter, and the words of people in this place matter. But do not just take my word for it. The member for Eureka referred to it earlier, but we got a letter from Ange Elson, the chief executive officer of Tiny Pride in Ballarat, earlier this week. I do not have time to share much, but what she says in the very first line is:

The past six months have been gruelling for the LGBTIQA+ community and the people that love us here in Ballarat. It’s fair to say that this stems from a feeling of watching our rights come under unprecedented attack.

It is a disgrace, Bev McArthur.

Melissa HORNE (Williamstown – Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Minister for Health Infrastructure) (20:51): It is really heartwarming to talk about this motion tonight, because when we launched the rainbow toolkit I was the Minister for Local Government that supported the Minister for Equality in the other place at the time.

Hearing the emotion in this place about what inclusivity actually means is so important, because having a conversation in my local council area just recently where I had local councillors who were saying that having the word ‘inclusiveness’ in the local government plan was too woke, I wondered how ‘inclusive’ means woke. For every person in this place that is a parent, you talk to your child when they come home from school and you say, ‘Who did you play with today, darling?’ and they say, ‘Well actually, no-one really wanted to play with me today’ – that is the opposite of what inclusive means. That is being exclusive. That is saying, ‘I do not want to be with you. I do not accept you. I do not accept what you look like, what you believe in and what your sexuality is.’ That is what exclusivity looks like. That is not what this side of the house stands for. We are about being inclusive and providing the tools and the support to say, ‘We see you regardless of who you are’. I am sorry, we are not woke. We are being kind and compassionate. As the Prime Minister said about winning the election, that was a victory for kindness. This is what on this side of the house we stand for.

But let us have a talk about libraries, because as the daughter of two high school teachers, learning and libraries are so intertwined, and they are such beautiful places to be. But libraries are also such safe places for people to be. I know seeing many of you around this chamber that I visited many of your libraries when I was the Minister for Local Government, and they are much more about places of inclusion than just places where you go and borrow books.

I would really like to give a shout-out to the amazing CEO of Public Libraries Victoria Angela Savage, who is an incredible person that has built an absolute empire and has been able to do so much with our libraries. What they do ultimately is support vulnerable people. They provide those safe places and are able to say, ‘Here is how we support you doing a job application’ or ‘Here is how we support you doing your study’, for people that are studying whatever, and, ‘Here is a safe place where you can come, particularly when it is cold or when it is hot. Here is a place where you can actually be.’

It is so important that we support our libraries. What they do is an incredible job. But to have my name, as the former Minister for Local Government, on that press release where we introduced the rainbow toolkit – and that was after two years of incredible vilification of drag story time, because that was politicised by the right. It was a beautiful, inclusive opportunity for people to just dress up and tell stories to children. Who does not love that? What parent does not love to go and put a little bit of sparkle and a little bit of tinsel on their kids and say, ‘This is an incredible opportunity to dress up and celebrate the magical realism of what we enjoy so much – of storytelling’? To then have the hard right vilify and target people that are going in and creating joy – joy for our children, joy for families and joy for inclusion – and say, ‘You are not welcome in our society. You are not welcome in our community. You are not welcome to create hope and joy and inclusion for our families,’ was a disgrace.

We were able to go there and say, ‘We are creating a rainbow toolkit that makes sure that these are safe spaces, that these are places where people can come and learn and be together and actually support each other,’ and to turn those places into spaces that are no longer safe is a disgrace. That is what the hard right was doing, and in fact that is what parts of the opposition are doing even to this day. It is incumbent on us to stand up and call it out and say, ‘You are not welcome here. Your values are not welcome here, because your values are values of division and hate, and that creates division and hate in our society.’ That is not what I want for my children. It is not what we on this side want for our children.

I commend this motion to the house, and I commend the incredible work that has been done to make sure that our libraries are safe spaces. Our libraries are places where everyone feels welcome, regardless of your race, your colour, your sexuality or your creed. Ultimately they are places about learning and passion and being safe, and that is what we on this side of the house stand for.

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (20:59): I also rise to make a contribution on this motion. I think it was the ubiquitous catchcry once upon a time that libraries are for everyone. It is very clear that on this side of the chamber we do believe libraries are for everyone, no matter who you are, no matter what your background and no matter what your sexual orientation. It is hard to believe that as a nation we said yes to marriage equality and we have lived through a pandemic but that in the year 2025 our LGBTIQ+ Victorians, Australians, would face any sort of discrimination, harm or vilification.

I want to commend the contributions on this side of the chamber by the member for Werribee and the member for Hastings. The member for Hastings’ speech really took me back to his outstanding inaugural speech, where he discussed this very topic: how, at the end of the day, we are all human beings, and we must always remember that we are born equal and we should be treated equally. What is wrong with actually treating people for who they are and what they are? What is wrong with that? In a state that has a human rights charter – the first state to have one – we should address and treat people respectfully. Can I also commend the member for Bass, the member for Narre Warren South and my good friend the member for Wendouree for pointing out my role as the Minister for Education and that it all does begin with education. As a government that had a family violence royal commission, we said we needed to embed equality in our school system, which led to the Respectful Relationships program that has now been rolled out to thousands of schools right across our state. More than 2000 schools – Catholic, independent, Anglican and government – have signed up to Respectful Relationships.

It is about making sure that the more than one in 20 adult Victorians who identify as LGBTIQA+ are not ever discriminated against for who they are, they do not face stigma and they do not face any sorts of barriers. Because it is one thing to say libraries are for everyone, and it is another thing to actually put in place direct action. I commend the member for Macedon, the Leader of the House, and also the Minister for Equality for the work she has done in making an action plan in this important area of public policy. We do know that members of this community have been under siege. They have faced vilification, they have faced harassment, they have faced violence and they are on the front line of trying to make sure we are an educated society. The role of public libraries in our state and in our community is about enriching culture. It is about making sure that people of all backgrounds can come together. It might be to borrow a book; it might just be to meet and have a cup of tea. It might be for a drag story time, dare I say. What is wrong with celebrating diversity in one of the most important public institutions in the world, a public library?

As my friend the member for Williamstown so eloquently outlined, we must confront this issue. If you do let the hard right run, divide and do any more of the Trumpism, it will only lead to more division, more social isolation and more harm in society. We know the mental health stats and the suicide rates. This is a community that governments need to be focused on. An investment of just over $14,000, a drop in the ocean – can you believe that the other side would be focused on this? A $14,000 investment to support public libraries and make sure they have the right policies to support everyone, no matter their background and no matter who they are, to come and be able to be celebrated like any other human being, dare I say any other Victorian – it is incredible that they would even focus on this.

I do not have Mrs McArthur as an upper house member, or Mr Joe McCracken. As everyone in this chamber knows, I have listened to Mr McCracken on that podcast where he said they are waiting to cut everything when they get into office. We know where they will go. They will go straight to the most vulnerable members of the community first – those people with the quietest voices, the smallest voices. They will be targeted first. It is simply not on. That is why the progressive side of politics must stand up and make sure that that sort of behaviour – that action of trying to do a petition to stop the rainbow toolkit being rolled out – is condemned. You can see the speaking list on this side of the chamber – everyone is lined up to speak on this and celebrate Victoria’s diversity, because we know how important that is for our state.

[Thursday’s Hansard will be published by close of business Friday 16 May 2025.]

[The Legislative Assembly report is being published progressively.]