Page 877 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2016
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the council on its key role in continuing to work to make Canberra Australia’s most friendly city for LGBTIQ people. This government has and will continue to assist the council to monitor the progress of the achievements in meeting their core objectives through consultation with the LGBITQ community and with the relevant organisations.
I want to acknowledge all of the comments that have already been made by my colleagues on this side of the chamber. I acknowledge the visitors in the chamber today who are experiencing this conversation and debate we are having in this place. I hope any LGBTIQ people who are here in the chamber today or who are hearing this debate online or who hear about it in the future know that this ACT government is absolutely committed to making schools a safe place, to making their homes a safe place and to making our communities as safe and as inclusive as we can be for LGBTIQ people, particularly our young children, our most vulnerable people in our community. They are the last people we want to see bullied or intimidated, and through that creating a higher statistic when it comes to suicide. That is what will happen if we do not find a way to become a much more inclusive community. We should not have to have people like the Chief Minister coming out to defend his sexuality every other day when people in the federal government make the kinds of appalling comments they have about our children. It is not okay.
DR BOURKE (Ginninderra—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Disability, Minister for Small Business and the Arts and Minister for Veterans and Seniors) (4.02): This timely motion from Mr Hinder is an opportunity to counter the vilification of the safe schools program by extremist elements in the federal Liberal Party. They have been sending a crushing message to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning young people at our schools for whom the safe schools program is a chance to overcome the bullying and discrimination they face. Who would ever have thought that some in the Liberal Party would take a stand against safer schools for all our children? It is Australia’s embrace of diversity that is one of our greatest achievements, but it is something we have to work at constantly. The safe schools program is part of helping students understand the diversity of our community and how they fit in.
By rejecting homophobic and transphobic discrimination in all its forms, we build social cohesion and ensure that every child can reach their full potential. Building social cohesion and inclusion is an essential part of my portfolio responsibilities for children and young people, disability, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children of different abilities can already face their own challenges from bullying and discrimination in the schoolyard from peers.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are also trying to understand or come to terms with their sexuality and being bullied about it as well as facing racial abuse suffer severe challenges. The safe schools program can be a lifeline to help these children. It should be supported and not the subject of hysteria. Sexuality and disability are topics being discussed more frequently, yet the discussion of the diversity of sexuality and young people of different abilities can be confronting,
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