Tuesday, 5 March 2024

Ministers statements: LGBTIQ+ equality

Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:48): I rise today in my capacity as Minister for Equality. We know that recent data published by the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing marks the first time the Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported on the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ people and indeed compared that to the rest of the community. This report highlights that the mental health challenges and the wellbeing challenges experienced by LGBTIQA+ communities because of stigma and discrimination and because of layered discrimination, particularly for non-binary and bisexual people, also reflect the impact of transphobia and biphobia that non-binary and bisexual people experience because of diverse gender and sexuality within workplaces, within the community and when accessing services for support.

This is something which I know a number of people in this place take an active and progressive interest in. Research from La Trobe University in 2020 revealed that 73.2 per cent of LGBTIQA+ people have considered suicide compared with 13.2 per cent of the general Australian population. We know that death, injury, loss and violence affect us disproportionately. To that end I want to encourage anybody who has been affected by the tragic deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in New South Wales to reach out for support, including to the Rainbow Door, QLife and Lifeline. Help is available, and we are determined to make sure that people who are grieving and people who are impacted have the culturally safe access to support and services that they need. We have invested $21 million across the state to deliver on our supports for trans and gender-diverse health and community options around Q+ hub locations in Geelong and Ballarat and making sure that Pride in Our Future continues to be delivered as a 10-year plan.