Wednesday, 18 October 2023

Ministers statements: LGBTIQ+ equality

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:39): I rise today in my capacity as Minister for Equality. Today is a day for us to stand alongside all members of our LGBTIQ+ communities to recognise, support, promote and indeed provide a sense of safety to people, including some of our most vulnerable cohorts. The bottom line is that here in Victoria equality is not negotiable. While some choose to spend their time fearmongering and spreading distressing and damaging misinformation, the Allan government continues to lead the way in policies and in funding that are about making sure that LGBTIQ+ folk around the state are safe, are dignified, are respected and are able to access services and programs that enable them to be visible and to be connected.

We have invested more than $25 million in a Pride Centre, we are investing $22.2 million to support LGBTIQ+ health services, we have banned conversion practices, we have improved birth certificate legislation, we have removed discriminatory provisions or challenges from the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 and we have embarked upon a range of programs, including access to adoption and to a range of other important freedoms and equalities before the law, that have undone some of the most challenging, awful and hate-filled history that we have. The former Premier Daniel Andrews stood in the other place and made an apology for historical convictions for homosexual activity.

It is too late for some, because too many people have died at the hands of systems that have been rooted in discrimination, in bigotry, in hatred, in isolation and in violence. We will continue to support LGBTIQ+ people every day here in Victoria. We will continue to press ahead with the importance of making sure that following a rise of transphobic and trans-related hate matters here in Victoria, we stand alongside trans and gender-diverse folk and we say: we are with you, we see you and we recognise you, and you are entitled to be safe and respected.