Page 182 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 December 2016
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Day-to-day interactions have a great impact on our lives, self-worth and our outlook on life.
As we have discussed in this place before, particularly in relation to bullying in schools, 80 per cent of homophobic and transphobic bullying involving LGBTIQ young people occurs in the school environment. These young people are three times more likely to experience depression than their peers. These statistics are alarming, shocking and demand a response. They emphasise the need for inclusive support and education in our schools.
That is why the government that I lead will always support the safe schools program. We are incredibly disappointed by the attitude of the Neanderthal conservatives in the right wing of the Liberal Party and National Party. Their attitudes to this program have shamed even progressive Liberals into kowtowing and modifying what is a very effective program. We reject that approach. We, like Victoria, will go it alone on the safe schools program because it is so important. We continue to fully fund the program and the work of the Safe Schools Coalition to create inclusive and positive environments for same-sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students in Canberra.
I have spoken in this place before about this issue, and I can claim a little bit of personal experience about what it is like to be gay in a Canberra high school and still in the closet. That was back in the 80s—I am showing my age a little now—but the issues that I confronted, sadly, are still there, and the evidence supports this for many students in Canberra schools in 2016. That is disappointing, and it needs action and a response.
Whilst we are proud to celebrate many achievements in terms of equality in this jurisdiction, we continue to hear too many stories of bigotry, harassment and societal pressures that are preventing students from being able to get on with their education. As Mr Steel indicated, the tragedy of a 13-year-old boy committing suicide because of homophobic taunts from his classmates over a long period in a Queensland state school demonstrate that this is a real issue in Australian schools today. It requires leadership from government, and it requires leadership in the community—and particularly in school communities—to prevent these sorts of tragedies from occurring. Tyrone Unsworth was 13 years old. It is not an isolated story. It is a disgraceful indictment of what is happening in our school communities. It demands a response from government and it gets one here in the ACT. Whilst ever I sit in this place, and particularly in this role, this government will fund that program.
Mr Steel also spoke at length about a range of other important social inclusion objectives for the government. I certainly commend him for raising many and varied examples, such as safe access to abortion services, our work on the office for mental health, the largest-ever renewal of public housing, our renewable energy target, and our innovative work in terms of demand responsive transport.
I would like to focus the remainder of my remarks on points (3)(a) and (3)(b) of Mr Steel’s motion. Firstly, the time has come for the commonwealth parliament to revisit their 1997 legislation and enable all states and territories to enact laws in relation to voluntary euthanasia. I understand that the Victorian parliament will
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