Page 712 - Week 02 - Thursday, 23 February 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
everyone out there who faces this all the time. It is not just me. I am a bit more high profile than some in the gay and lesbian community, but I do not get anything compared to what many other of my fellow citizens experience in their day-to-day lives, be it in the school ground, workplaces, sporting environments or wherever.
We are genuinely concerned about this. If, 18 months later, Mr Coe thinks that this is an issue that is worth fighting for, I will welcome the support of those opposite—to join me in the various campaigns that I have been running on these issues since I was elected to this place.
Mr Hargreaves: And before.
MR BARR: And before, Mr Speaker. If people are genuine about this, maybe there might be a bit more concern about what is said in the various debates when these issues come forward.
Again I go to the record of people in voting on matters of substance. When we, as a Labor government, sought to reform the territory’s laws to make life that little bit better for gay and lesbian Canberrans, I remember who supported those reforms and I remember what people said. I remember what Mrs Dunne said in one of her speeches, particularly in relation to the issue of adoption. I remember what a number of people have said throughout this process. And I will just not cop confected outrage from those opposite on these issues. It is just outrageous.
The Leader of the Opposition does not even support civil unions. He cannot even bring himself to support that most fundamental of rights at a state and territory level. So to have this confected outrage today is just pure politics. It is time someone said that and time this was put on the record.
As I say, if there is something positive that can come out of this it might be that we reflect a little on the actual issues and the difficulties that this sort of debate or these sorts of things raise for so many people in the community. It is these sorts of comments—the ones that I have outlined, not just about me but about many other people—that hurt and that need to be stood up against. Maybe that might be something positive that comes out of all of this today.
The politics that we have seen from Mr Hanson in seeking to raise this issue in this way are nothing short of disgraceful.
MR COE (Ginninderra) (10.44): Mr Barr’s speech has highlighted the gravitas of this event. Mr Barr’s speech has reinforced just how serious an issue this actually is. Yet in spite of that, for political reasons, once again the Labor Party are shielding Mr Hargreaves—once again.
I do find it offensive that a member of this place would bring us all into disrepute. All of us have been brought down by this low act. And this is not just a lone low act; there have been many low acts which we in this chamber and we in the Canberra community have had to endure as a result of Mr Hargreaves’s behaviour. Whether it be a slur on women, the aged, volunteers, ministers, gay people or seemingly anybody
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video