Moving Forward

PARLIAMENT OF AUSTRALIA THE SENATE

SENATOR LYN ALLISON

Leader, Australian Democrats

Senator for Victoria

24 October 2007

Dear Mr Kloprogge,

Thank you for your invitation to the Australian Democrats to provide you with our policies and position on a range of sexuality and gender identity issues that you have raised.

As I am sure you are aware, the Australian Democrats have a long and proud history of working for equality for GLBTI Australians and we already support and have specific policy proposals on these issues. We are also the first and only political party to have a parliamentary spokesperson on sexuality and gender status issues.

The Australian Democrats are fully committed to comprehensive federal legislation offering GLBTI people protection from discrimination. In August, we introduced into the Senate our Same-Sex Entitlement Bill which put the recent HREOC recommendations into legislative form by amending the 58 discriminatory federal laws identified.

We have also introduced and debated other bills in the Senate. One of these was our Sexuality and Gender Identity Discrimination Bill, which has recently been up-dated and re-introduced. In 2004, we re-introduced our Sexuality Anti-Vilification Bill which sought to prohibit vilification and incitement to hatred of people on the grounds of sexuality. We are also committed to reform of the Marriage Act and our Same-Sex Marriages Bill 2006 was introduced specifically to reverse the changes that the Howard Government made to the Marriage Act in 2004.

We have also tried repeatedly over many years to redress unreasonable discrimination through amendments to dozens of specific laws, including in relation to parenting and adoption rights. Apart from some success in areas such as private sector superannuation, migration, and military entitlements, we have been unable to receive sufficient support from either the Coalition or the ALP for our other initiatives.

We are also committed to exploring the full range of avenues through which same-sex relationships might be recognised in law, including through marriage, civil unions, or a partnership registration scheme similar to that already operating in Tasmania. We have also campaigned to have an immigration category, similar to the 'prospective marriage' category, extended to same sex de facto partners.

In the area of health, the Australian Democrats are committed to a range of measures: we support full and equal access to Medicare safety net provisions, and eligibility criteria for fertility and surrogate programs that do not discriminate on the grounds of sexuality or gender identity.

We also support the provision of specialist health and social services within the existing health infrastructure to address sexuality and gender identity concerns, including the provision of services for those experiencing severe emotional distress or disturbance, and will ensure continued funding of existing specialised services.

We support full gender affirmation for transgender people that is nationally consistent, full access to information about surgical and non-surgical treatments available to transgender people and those with intersex conditions, and the availability of these treatments under Medicare.

We also support increased funding for suicide prevention programs, and improved anti-bullying/anti-homophobia measures in schools.

You will find more detail on our work here http://www.democrats.org.au/campaigns/glbti/.

Our Action Plan going into this election is here http://www.democrats.org.au/docs/ActionPlans/Attorney_GLBTI_2007.pdf

We believe that all people have a right to equality under the law

and in all dealings with government and the community, and that all people should be protected from discrimination and vilification on the grounds of sexuality and gender identity and we will continue our commitment to this work in the next Parliament.

Please do not hesitate to contact my office should you need any further information.

Yours sincerely,

Lyn Allison

Leader, Australian Democrats