Coalition to introduce anti-discrimination laws
Federal Shadow Attorney-General George Brandis says if the Coalition is elected on August 21 it will introduce legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity in federal anti-discrimination laws.
Speaking to Doug Pollard on Melbourne GLBTI radio station JOY94.9 this morning, Brandis said it was likely the change would occur in their first term of government.
“The Coalition believes that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation should be included among the categories of discrimination in federal legislation,” Brandis said.
“I’m going to stop short of making a commitment to it being in the first term only because you can never say what the legislative agenda will be.
“[But] I would fully expect it to be in our first term, it’s something I feel very strongly about and I think when Tony [Abbott] was on your show recently, I’ve reviewed the transcript of what he said, I don’t think he could be more unequivocal about what he said about it, so that’s a yes.”
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In an interview with JOY in March this year, Opposition leader Tony Abbott said he would give “in principle” support to federal anti-discrimination legislation if it was “good law”.
Brandis reiterated the Coalition’s opposition to same-sex marriage and said recommendations made in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Sex Files report on transgender issues would be “consider[ed] carefully”.
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yup u got it
VOTE GREEN!
it’s our only hope
The Tasmanian Liberals couldn’t even promise not to use Hate-Material in their election ads!
And I notice his weasel-words on Trans and Intersex issues on the radio.
I’m still waiting for a commitment on them from Labor too.
Meanwhile the Senate will get, in the form of the Democrats, Greens, Secular Party, Sex Party etc a solid mandate from and for the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender and Intersex people of Australia to ensure true inclusive legislation. And i hope they (and i use this word with the strongest Irony) STONEWALL utterly every single piece of legislation from the government that gets elected till we have basic equal human rights for ALL Australians. Including the Trans and Intersex folk that George and Julia don’t want to help.
Sorry but Im not convinced that George Brandis is being honest, Why are GLBT people forgeting about all the promises that the Liberals did not deliver while they were in government?
It appears to me that the best outcome, considering only the Greens are willing to deal with the last remnants of discrimination – even if you don’t want to get married, per se,is to vote the Greens, making Labor beholden to them.
I am with DavidW on this one.
It is fortunate for federal labor that the NSW bill to legalize same sex adoption of children has reared its head now, as it is technically not a federal issue. However, federal labor is in electoral trouble both in NSW and QLD and it comes right on the tail of Joe Hockey announcing NO INTERNET FILTER as Liberal policy. Once again gays will become a punching bag for moral indignation from both NSW state M.P’s and there will be ‘dog whistle’ politics from both sides federally. You can hear it now, “I can’t comment, that’s a matter for NSW to decide… but I will say this… that ppl do have a right to express their opinion…yada yada yada and so the homophobe train steams ahead.” It’s already started with state labor Community Services Minister Linda Burney saying Cabinet will this week discuss amending the bill so Anglicare and Catholic Agency, Centacare, can refuse gay couples adoption rights…..”I think the exemption is sensible and I think it’s important that it’s there.” The Australian Christian Lobby has already lost the internet filter debate and this biased law will appease them as long as M.P’s can be seen to get the gays and put them in their place. And right on track Gillard is at a catholic function this week giving away $1.5 million to celebrate the canonization of Australia’s “first saint” Mary McKillop and this comming from an atheist ….lol!!! Just think how that money could have been used for more saintly exercises like rural gay youth at risk. They are truly without shame, it just makes me sick. There is ever more a need for a federal anti-discrimination act that has teeth and that does not allow this sort of bigotry to continue.
They will bungle this effort for reform just as labour has because they will lose to many votes.
Either political party brings will have lots of asterisks and sunset clauses to allow certain groups to abrogate common law. See the Vict. Charter and how church groups continually violate gay human rights with impunity. Political spin tells us that this is called, “getting the balance right.?!” Much of the legal redress in Australia against discrimination relies on sympathy rather than legality. If you look at the ALP website they are extremely clear that they do NOT want a U.S. style CONSTITUTIONAL bill of rights. Why? If it was enshrined the constitution would be very hard to change and it’s usually done through amendments. You can’t do things like role back a racial discrimination act or have religious groups curtailing freedom of speech through lobbying govt.s for blanket internet filters. These excesses are the result of having no Human Rights Protections ENSHRINED in CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, not only for gays but for all people. Australians may not realize it, but the government may do anything they wish and there is no law or constitutional redress to curtail excesses and human rights abuses against minority groups or indeed the entire population. The issue of same sex marriage would dealt with legally because it is a clear violation of human rights not just gay rights as interpreted by many countries in the world now. More importantly if voting were not compulsory the gay community would probably have more clout than it does. I don’t think Australia is mature enough to really celebrate the richness and diversity that gay ppl bring to life and culture. I really don’t see things changing too soon and I feel this issue will have to go to the United Nations for any movement in balancing the fair and equitable treatment of gay ppl in this most backward of countries.
Our third-world aligned Anglican Church has hit the headlines today with this:
“The main adoption agency for infants in Sydney, Anglicare, has written to state MPs urging them to vote against a bill that would allow same-sex couples to adopt.”
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/churches-push-gay-adoption-ban-20100806-11oil.html
Unlike more advanced Anglican branches in the U.S. & U.K, the Australian branch under apparently homophobic Peter Jensen, has aligned the heirarchy of the Australian Anglican church with the renegade breakway third world branches such as Zimbabwe, who want to split the Anglican Church in two, so the third-world branches (incl us) can pursue a rigourous agenda of homophobia.
“a vote for the greens will in fact be rewarding Labor” – No, it will install a Labor government, under the THUMB & balance of power of the Greens. Also, each primary vote allocates MONEY to that party at the following election.
A minor party (or independant) can virtually bring a government TO IT’S KNEES. It’s just that we haven’t seen this in action for a very long time- not since the late 90’s when indepedent Brian Harridine had the govt by the balls & had all his own personal censorship ideas passed into law – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Harradine & http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens1.html (scroll down to heading “Commonwealth Legislation”) . And before that the Democrates in the early 90’s had the govt in such a gridlock vice both the govt and opposition were begging for mercy- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Democrats
So, cut to the present- the Greens are ammassing so many votes, they are on the verge of having a real single balance of power, the likes of which we have not seen since way back in June 1999, hence why many people have forgotten about how much power & influence the balance of power can have.
Believe me, Labor do not see being slammed under the thumb of the Greens, as a reward!
Any act that either political party brings will have lots of asterisks and sunset clauses to allow certain groups to abrogate common law. See the Vict. Charter and how church groups continually violate gay human rights with impunity. Political spin tells us that this is called, “getting the balance right.?!” Much of the legal redress in Australia against discrimination relies on sympathy rather than legality. If you look at the ALP website they are extremely clear that they do NOT want a U.S. style CONSTITUTIONAL bill of rights. Why? If it was enshrined the constitution would be very hard to change and it’s usually done through amendments. You can’t do things like role back a racial discrimination act or have religious groups curtailing freedom of speech through lobbying govt.s for blanket internet filters. These excesses are the result of having no Human Rights Protections ENSHRINED in CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, not only for gays but for all people. Australians may not realize it, but the government may do anything they wish and there is no law or constitutional redress to curtail excesses and human rights abuses against minority groups or indeed the entire population. The issue of same sex marriage would dealt with legally because it is a clear violation of human rights not just gay rights as interpreted by many countries in the world now. More importantly if voting were not compulsory the gay community would probably have more clout than it does. I don’t think Australia is mature enough to really celebrate the richness and diversity that gay ppl bring to life and culture. I really don’t see things changing too soon and I feel this issue will have to go to the United Nations for any movement in balancing the fair and equitable treatment of gay ppl in this most backward of countries.
Peter Cross -My partner is a Director of Medical Services and we have become all to aware of Pharmacies that do not provide certain medicines, or even give out Condoms. There are patients who report GP clinics in the town they live would not see openly Gay people. Equally when I used to do welfare work I worked briefly for the Salvation Army Crisis Center in Melbourne. Yes they did accept people who are gay, but they asked me to note down who they were, so they could give them “religious counselling” to cure there Evil ways. This was at a time when people were highly disadvantaged. I wrote to the government bodies that funded them and they pointed out the exemptions they have.
Nursing homes are Federally Funded. There are countless stories of people being turned away due to there sexuality. Almost all nursing homes are run by religious based organisations.
The reality is the Liberal Party still supports this discrimination. You might point out an area of the Sisters of Charity not discriminating but many religious services funded with GLBTQI Taxes do discriminate.
Where do you draw the line on discrimination you ask? It is a good question. I think you should never allow those that seek all the profits from running a business with huge tax concessions, and government money, be able to discriminate against members of the public. The Liberal Party supports such religious groups discriminating against people from the GLBTQI Community.
The Liberal Party does not yet celebrate all the colours of the rainbow. Homophobia kills more people then the road toll. Are we expected to suicide should we need a nursing home? When I get older I am not going back into the closet. I am gay and bloody proud of it. The Liberal Party is yet to comprehend what that is.
For further reading:
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/adb/ll_adb.nsf/pages/adb_glbti_consultation
https://www.chf.org.au/pdfs/hvo/hvo-2010-6-Excluded%20from%20the%20table%20LGBT%20health%20and%20wellbeing.pdf
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/pdf/human_rights/gay_lesbian/stories.pdf
HOW TO VOTE FOR YOUR RIGHTS.
1. The Greens
2. The Democrats
3. The Sex Party
4. A good independent
5. Liberal
6. Labor
Michael – are you taking the piss, praising the Liberal’s “record” on G&L reform??
Nothing happened from 1995-2007! Howard’s anti-gay stance was firmly backed by Tony Abbott. E
Even this “promise” is not a promise – it “may happen” sometime in the future. Blah blah blah – Rudd introduced the 85 G & L amendments within his first 12 months!!
In fairness, Labor must promise to amend the Federal anti-discrimination – and commit to do it in the next term.
Finally, we all must thank George Brandis for labelling Howard ‘the Lying Rodent’. Wonderful summation of the man’s character.
The sex files reccomendations need careful consideration? They aren’t up to the basic standards of the Yogyakarta Principles.
How about equality for all Intersex and Transgender people?
You know a basic ‘fair go’.
Still this IS better than Labor has said, not that i trust the Liberals on actually doing these things, but lets see Labor give a better offer.
Michael – are you kidding? “Gays always seem to fare better under the Liberals.”
So you mean to say that when John Howard, Liberal Prime Minister, banned gays from getting married, that was a good thing?
And that by contrast when Kevin Rudd, Labor Prime Minister, amended 85 pieces of law so that they did not discriminate against same-sex couples, that was a bad thing?
You might need to go back and review who exactly has done what in Government..
Promising news from Brandis.
I always remember that the Sister’s of Charity run St Vincent’s Hospital and the attached Hospice, and they have always provided totally non-judgemental care for the sick and dying no matter what their religion or sexual orientation. Similarly the Salvation Army will look after young, old, gay or straight with no restrictions.
As yet I’m not aware of the Brethren or similar sect/cults who are running hospitals or hospices. These are obviously the groups everyone worries about when thinking of being turned away when needing care.
There is an case for allowing certain business’s to choose who they serve. Gay business’s have been using this argument for years.
Fuck the liberal party and the creep in the budgie smugglers leading it who feels “threatened by gays “. Fuck their closeted mouthpiece Alan Jones and any gay or lesbian person who votes for them!
Michael,
Surely you realise that a vote for the greens will in fact be rewarding Labor. The greens can’t win the election, therefore in a ballot where every candidate has to be numbered, most green votes will filter back to Labor!
If they introduce federal anti-discrimination laws, or a charter of human rights, then that immediatley paves the way for discrimination cases similar to the Prop 8 in California, but on a national scale (as our marriage laws are national). Do they really want to risk that?? The Australian Christian Lobby have already been banging on for over a year about NOT having federal anti-discrimination laws or a charter of human rights for this very reason- because although they can ask for a religious exemption from marrying gays, they can’t stop gays marrying at a government registry office (or at other churches who DO welcome gays).
Thank you George, Malcolm and Tony for moving forward on anti-discrimination legislation.
This is a huge leap forward and more then Labor is offering. Labor is offering 4years of doing no law reform for the GLBTQI community.
I do however have a great concern. Shadow Attorney -General George Brandis said Church companies that own businesses would still be able to discriminate against people on the basis of sexuality. If a Church runs the only pharmacy or medical clinic in a country town, they will be legally entitled to let people die on the basis of their sexuality and not provide life saving treatment. Brandis said it was not Liberal Party policy to change this.
Church companies receive huge tax breaks, and do not pay rates. Often they also receive direct funding from the Federal Government in addition to all this.
On Same-Sex Marriage Bandis took the cowards way out being stripped of moral and religious arguments, the only excuse for the homophobia was he said the community did not support Same-Sex Marriage. This is despite polls that show well over half the population supports Same-Sex Marriage. These same polls are the ones the Liberal Party uses to knife leaders as they believe the polls represent public opinion. Given this one can only describe the policy of exclusion as homophobic.
One of the ironies of the political wasteland that is Canberra is that Gays always seem to fare better under the Liberals (who, I have to say, I have NEVER voted for). After the Great Red Hope Julia jettisoned us in one quick scoop, with little reaction from anyone it would seem, I am sitting here stunned by the appalling choices before me. What I can say is I have no intention of rewarding Ms. Gillard’s betrayal by giving her my vote. If she thinks she can treat Gays as second class citizens she can forget about my support. Thank goodness I have the Greens to vote for. Labor can get fucked.