Page 1378 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 12 May 2021
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Time after time we have seen this kind of transphobic attitude from members sitting opposite. We have heard them describe the safe schools program as grooming our young people. We have heard that, instead of teaching our young people how to practise safe sex, we should just tell them not to do it. If these are the kinds of attitudes and beliefs that run rampant in the Canberra Liberals, how can we ever trust them in delivering an inclusive education system! I do know that there are certain members of the Canberra Liberals that are strong allies. I wish that they were more vocal.
What is not going to help vulnerable trans and gender diverse students is a debate in the New South Wales parliament over whether teachers should be allowed to recognise that these students exist, which is why I was so shocked, but not surprised, to see the comments from Andrew Wall, a former Liberal member of this Legislative Assembly, describing the existence of trans and gender diverse people as pursuing an extreme social ideology, when he appeared before the New South Wales parliament recently as a witness to those committee proceedings, as a representative of the Australian Christian Lobby.
I ask those sitting across from me today: how many other Canberra Liberals agree with Andrew Wall’s characterisation? How many other Canberra Liberals agree with Mr Wall’s statement that we should prohibit an extremist view of gender fluidity? Are these the views of the opposition in this chamber today? I am not sure. I wait for this debate because, if they are, the Canberra public has a right to know. They have a right to know that the views held by members of the opposition are completely incongruent with the inclusive values of Canberra.
Andrew Wall sat in this place for eight years, for much of that time as the opposition’s shadow minister for education. Could you imagine if he had ever become minister for education? What kind of terrible message would that have sent to vulnerable young people in our city? What is the role of the education system if not to give children experiences that they would not have within their family, to teach them empathy and understanding, respect of others that might seem different to them on a surface level?
I know that when I was at school I was introduced to a variety of people with different life experiences whom I never would have met if not for the school environment bringing us together. That experience allowed me to become a more empathetic person, understanding people from outside my direct life experience—something that I think we can all agree on we should value.
Today I am calling on the ACT government to continue its work supporting trans and gender diverse students in our education system and to do more. When others do less, I believe that the ACT government should do more. And I am calling on this Assembly to condemn the transphobic and derogatory bill that is being moved in the New South Wales parliament.
This bill from Mr Latham is a blatant attack on the rights of trans and gender diverse young people in New South Wales schools and the Canberra region. It is an attack on the students that move between the ACT and New South Wales education systems
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