Page 402 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 16 February 2016
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MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, could I just get clarification from you: you are not agreeing to the whole three of Mr Rattenbury’s amendments?
MR HANSON: If they are taken individually, Madam Deputy Speaker, I am happy to support 1 and 3, but I am not happy to support the second relating to the change of “mother” and “father”. I thought the amendments were being taken as a whole.
Mr Rattenbury: I am happy to take them separately.
MR HANSON: If they are going to be taken separately, we would support the first and the third.
Mr Rattenbury: We will change it in procedure in a sec.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Minister for Housing, Community Services and Social Inclusion, Minister for Multicultural and Youth Affairs, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (11.33): In April 2014 I rose to acknowledge the contribution of people who had shared their stories and experiences to inform what was then known as the human rights and equal opportunity commission sex files report, which sets out a clear agenda for reform to laws affecting sex and gender diverse people in Australia. I spoke of how long these reforms were in coming and how far we had to go. It makes me very proud to be back in the chamber again today continuing that work through this Justice Legislation Amendment Bill.
Since we passed those first reforms, I have had the pleasure of becoming community services minister and minister for social inclusion. In this capacity I have had the opportunity to work with the LGBTIQ advisory council, and I acknowledge members of the advisory council who are here in the Assembly today. They have been a committed force for the improvement of the lives of people in their communities. Every time I meet with them they are pursuing issues, both large and small, that seek to ensure all Canberrans can live free from discrimination, both through our laws and in our community.
Today I want to take another opportunity to read into Hansard some of the words of the people who participated in the human rights and equal opportunity commission report, because it is people who have been brave enough to tell their stories who have made the case for this reform. One said:
Having documents that reflect one’s sense of identity is important for employment, access to healthcare and medicines and also for self affirmation and acceptance by the government that—yes, this is who you really are …
One said:
Because I will not divorce my wife, I am not able to change my birth certificate to my true sex. So my birth certificate still says male. However, Medicare and Centrelink know that I have undergone sex affirmation surgery and their records say that I am female. Therefore, we have been denied the PBS married safety net because we are seen as a same-sex couple.
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