Greens launch Sydney campaign

Greens’ leader Bob Brown, the first openly gay federal party leader, came to Newtown last Saturday to launch the campaign of Jenny Leong for the seat of Sydney.

Leong also represented the Greens in 2004, highlighting the complicity of both major parties in the same-sex marriage ban – and picking up a large swing.

“The ban on universal marriage rights really highlighted the inequalities still faced by people within the lesbian and gay community,” Leong said.

“I’m really concerned that we’re moving toward further inequality; we’re still seeing discrimination being legislated and supported by both of the old parties.”

Leong said the Greens had a good track record in both houses for raising issues that would otherwise be unlikely to be debated.

“When the Greens had a lower house representative, Michael Organ [in the Wollongong-based seat of Cunningham], he got to raise the ideas of universal marriage rights and the issue of a bill of rights,” she said.

With the queer community, refugees, terror suspects and other vulnerable groups being attacked, Leong said a bill of rights would mean individual communities wouldn’t have to fight their own separate battles.