Tanner under pressure
Federal Finance Minister and Melbourne MP Lindsay Tanner has offered little in the way of where the Rudd Government intends to improve the rights of gay and lesbian Australians.
Speaking at the Victorian launch of the Wear It With Pride campaign, Tanner said including sexual orientation and gender identity in federal anti-discrimination laws was an “open question”, however, there are no firm plans to do so.
“In the process of examining the various bits of anti-discrimination legislation which we are seeking to put together into a single framework, this is a question we regard as one that’s legitimate to examine,” he told Sydney Star Observer.
“So there’s no specific commitment as such to do anything. We want to examine the current framework, what it covers, what it doesn’t cover, how we can do that with a single overarching piece of legislation.”
Tanner said the Government was committed to pursing a nationally consistent register of same-sex relationships and “bedding down” the 85 changes to federal law recognising gay and lesbian couples.
Gay rights activists have been frustrated by the Rudd Government’s failure to introduce anti-discrimination laws covering homophobic and transphobic discrimination.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland and Tanner announced earlier this year the Government would streamline the four separate pieces of anti-discrimination legislation into one Act, but no mention has been made of including sexual orientation or gender identity.
“We all know there is more to be done,” Tanner said.
“From time to time we are criticised for not doing more and that’s fair enough. I understand where those criticisms are coming from.”
Tanner offered little in the way of a future commitment to repealing the ban on same-sex marriage.
“As a senior minister I don’t have the luxury of publicly promoting a different position from the Government,” he said.
Under pressure from the Greens in his own seat, Tanner said he didn’t mind being “being under threat politically”.
“This is a challenge I’ve lived with for nearly 10 years. In fact my margin against the Greens is slightly healthier than it was between 2001 and 2004,” he said.
Australian Marriage Equality will leaflet Tanner’s seat to push the gay marriage issue during the election campaign.
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Considering the stats.. the attempted youth suicide stats and the harassment stats and the violence stats…. and considering the stats just come out of Queensland… especially for Trans..
The rage i feel to hear that such a simple and reasonable a thing as anti-dicrimination legislation to protect a group so clearly discriminated against that a trans person has a 45% chance of being physicaly assaulted is some sort of uncertainty… i cannot find words to adequatly express it.
They are saying they don’t care about GLBTI people. That they are ok with GLBTI people being bashed, being fired, being villified, being driven to suicide. They are happy with dead kids swinging by ropes if they are gay lesbian bi trans or intersex.
Leave sexuality gender identity and gender expression off anti-discrimination legislation while including the many far less needy groups is murder by willfull negligence.
And i won’t shrink from saying it plain. There’s already blood on the hands of Rudd and Abbott and every day’s delay stains permanantly their hands with blood!
‘I understand exactly where the criticism is coming from’? Do you really? How reassuring. So, Mr tanner, does that mean you’re going to use your considerable powers in our favour?
Love fffrom Hell xo
with so much hope and a real feeling of imminent change I voted for Labor in 2007. The kkindly, compassionate Kevin Rudd promised so much but has now disappointed so much that I wil not be voting Labor at this years election. Am I, as an out gay man, be relegated to yet another minority in voting Greens? Dietrich Bornhoff would be turning in his martyred grave.
The real question is what date will Labor end discrimination against our community. Until they can answer that, they do not deserve our vote.
Federal Labor can give us full Federal Protection at anytime, but choose not to due to the Happy Clapper Prime Minister who’s own brother asked him to resign.