READ THE ANSWERS

ALP

Coalition

Democrats

The Greens

Australian Democrats
(NSW Division)

4 Robert St Rozelle
NSW 2039
PO Box 16 Rozelle
NSW 2039
Ph: 02 9818 4711
Fax: 02 9818 5911
DEMOCRATS NSW

Contact details for all parliamentarians:
Parliament of NSW

NOTES:
(1) Roberts, R. and Maplesone, P., “The Age of Consent and Gay Men in NSW”, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2001.

NSW Democrats Response:
Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby Inc.
Election Survey

a) Is your party committed to equality for lesbians and gay men
in NSW?

Yes. Since 1977, the Democrats have campaigned to remove all forms of discrimination in whatever form it may be! Objective 15 of the Democrats constitution states that we must “enable people to pursue their own way of life as long as they do not interfere with the rights of others.” We stand on our record. It was former Democrat MLC, Liz Kirkby that introduced the De-Facto Relationships Amendment bill in the NSW Upper House in 1998.

The bill was eventually referred to a parliamentary committee and passed into law in 2000. The Democrats also maintained political pressure on the government to amend other discriminatory Acts such as the Miscellaneous Act (Relationships) Act 2002 in NSW. We have placed pressure on the government to establish a parliamentary inquiry into the equal age of consent by introducing our own bill and sought the State governments financial assistance in covering the insurance cost of the 2002 Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. Democrat MLC, Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans (ACE), was awarded the Sydney Star Observer’s Pride Week Award for Community Supporter of the Year for 2002!

b) Please explain the strategies that your party will adopt to ensure such equality.

The Democrats have implemented several strategies (as mentioned above) in the past to ensure that all people living in NSW will be treaded equally regardless of their sexual preferences or gender. We will continue to implement similar strategies, such as stimulating sensible and logical public debate over gay, lesbian and transgender issues, introducing legislation to amend laws and initiate inquiries until all forms of discrimination are removed from our society.

c) Does your party have a dedicated portfolio area with responsibility for issues relating to lesbian and gay men and equality for homosexuals? Does your party have a spokesperson/s for lesbian and gay issues?

Yes. The Australian Democrats federal spokesperson on “Sexuality Issues” is openly gay Western Australian Senator, Brain Greig. For the NSW State Election, our spokesperson on “Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Issue” is South Sydney Council Deputy Mayor and Upper House candidate Peter Furness. Permanent portfolio responsibility in N.S.W. will be allocated to sitting Democrat members after the election.

a) Does your party support an equal age of consent of 16 for all persons in NSW regardless of gender or sexuality?

Yes

b) Will your party introduce legislation into Parliament that will amend the Crimes Act, so that an equal age of consent of 16 is realized? (Please provide a timeframe for the implementation of such legislation).

We already have! NSW Democrat MLC, Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, introduced a Crimes Amendment (Equal Age of Consent) bill during 2002. This placed political pressure on the State Government to refer the Hon. Jan Burnswoods, Age of Consent bill to the Social Issues committee for an inquiry. The Democrats still think that this was a cop out, as the government could’ve passed the bill before the 2003 state election (if it had any guts!). However, this has forced the Government to take action on the issue and the committee will report after the election. The Democrats will still go ahead with equalizing the age of consent and continue to reform discriminatory laws in NSW.

c) As a report by the University of NSW (2001)1 demonstrated, there are significant negative health and welfare implications for young gay men of an unequal age of consent. If your party does not support an equal age of consent, how will the health and welfare needs of young gay men be addressed.

N/A

a) Does your party have a commitment to implementing legislation and policy, which will properly recognize lesbian and gay families, as well as the rights of lesbians and gay men as parents?

Yes

b) Does your party support the legal recognition of partners of biological parents as co-parents of a child born through donor insemination (“DI”)?

Yes

c) Will your party support amending the Adoption Act, in order to allow samesex couples the right to adopt children in the same way that heterosexual couples may adopt children?

Yes

a) Will your party enact legislation that will amend the Anti-Discrimination Act, so that charities, religious bodies, voluntary bodies, and aged care organizations are not exempt from complying with the provisions relating to discrimination on the grounds of homosexuality when providing publicly funded social welfare, health and community services ?

Yes. The Democrats are well aware of the inequities that remain. The NSW Democrats introduced 5 bills in the upper House between 2000- 2002 and only 1 has been passed into the Lower House so far!

However, the Democrats will draft and introduce legislation to remove all remaining inequities in the Anti-Discrimination Act. Democrat Senator, Brian Greig introduced 2 bills last year. The Sexuality and Gender Identity Discrimination bill and a Sexuality Anti-Vilification bill.

b) Will your party enact legislation that will amend the Anti-Discrimination Act, to extend the provisions relating to discrimination on the grounds of martial status to provide protection to same-sex defacto relationships (as is currently the case for heterosexual defacto relationships)?

Yes.

c) How does your party plan on making the Anti-Discrimination Act more accessible to lesbians and gay men (e.g. making people more aware of the process to be undertaken if they have been discriminated against)?

Yes

d) What strategies will your party employ in order to combat homophobia, violence and harassment experienced by lesbians and gay men in NSW?

The NSW Democrats will continue to support major public education campaigns against homophobia and increased police street patrols in areas such as Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Newtown and Erskineville.

e) Will your party enact and/or support, through the provision of funding, programs in all NSW secondary schools, which aim to educate and prevent the high level of homophobia that occurs within these institutions, at home and in the community generally?

If the Democrats ever won government, that would be a high priority for the Education portfolio in coordination with the NSW Police Force.

However, the NSW Democrats will continue to apply pressure on the State government to make sure that such a mobile programme will visit all state and Non-Government schools in metropolitan, regional and rural areas.

a) Will your party amend the following pieces of legislation, so that the
relationships of lesbians and gay men are fully recognized under NSW law (please provide an expected timeframe for the implementation of such legislation):

i. Coal and Oil Shale Mine Workers (Superannuation) Act 1941
ii. Public Authorities Superannuation Act 1985
iii. Local Government Act 1993
iv. Industrial Relations Act 1996
v. Human Tissue Act 1984

a) (i-iv)The Democrats noted that the Miscellaneous Act Amendment bill 2002 was missing the mentioned pieces of legislation and the Democrats will pursue to draft and introduce amending legislation within the first 90 days of the next parliament.

v) The Government currently has an amendment bill to the Human Tissue Act. The Democrats will ensure that this piece of legislation will be appropriately amended so that provisions under the proposed bill will equally apply to same sex couples.

a) What commitments will your party make to the particular health needs of lesbians and gay men in NSW?

ACE is a member of the Standing Committee on Social Issue and Deputy Chair of the General Purpose Standing Committee No 2, which inquires into the budget the expenditures of Health and Community Services among other things. ACE would be more than willing to work with the Lobby in drafting terms of reference and work the numbers on the Committees to establish such an inquiry.

b) Will you enact/ support programs that take a holistic approach to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention (e.g. adapting policy that recognizes the social and economic as well as the health impact of HIV/ AIDS for people living with, and affected by, the disease)? Please give details.

Yes. The NSW Democrats support a policy position that will ensure that the needs of people living with HIV and AIDS, their partners and families will be met though coordinated programmes between various agencies, that drug-related behaviours are continued to be monitored and needle exchange programmes continue to be appropriately funded to help prevent transmission and that growing ‘complacency’ toward possible infection is addressed by way of continual research to develop effective education and prevention programmes.

c) How will your party address the particular needs of older lesbians and gay men? What specific policies do you plan to implement in order to provide for an ageing lesbian and gay population?

A majority of research demonstrates that there is a lot of similarities between the aging homosexual and heterosexual population. However, there are 3 main issues that warrant concern:

1) The health care system has been traditionally unresponsive to
recognizing the existence of homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle and homosexual partnerships are often not recognized to exist even though the individuals may have been involved in life-partner situations for many years. NSW health needs to develop a policy on this issue.
2) Poor access to community housing for older gay and especially lesbian couples. The Dept of Housing needs to allocate appropriate resources to address any un-met need.
3) Lack of resources or networks to people who ‘come out’ at an older age. Dept of Aging, Disability and Home Care needs to address un-met in this area by developing and adequately funding such out-reach programmes.

a) What policies will you implement to address the issue of youth suicide amongst lesbian and gay youth? Does your party prioritise lesbian and gay youth suicide as a major issue facing youth in NSW?

The Parliamentary Inquiry in rural suicide highlighted that isolated young gay males in rural areas have the highest rate of suicide in NSW. The Democrats support the full implementation of the 'We Can All Make A Difference: NSW Suicide Prevention Strategy' that incorporates five key strategic directions: involving all of the community and strengthening families, outreach and support for those who are most vulnerable; better targeting of health and other services to suicide prevention; better supports for those affected by a suicide death; and improving information on suicide prevention.

b) How will your party counteract the growing number of lesbian and gay youth who are homeless or living in poverty?

Establishing a gay & lesbian youth specific outreach programme within Dept of Community Services.

c) Will your party create/support programs and initiatives focusing on assisting lesbian and gay youth in their process of “coming out”?

Yes, the Democrats are more than willing to work with the lobby in helping to develop such a programme with the relevant government agencies.

a) Is your party committed to involving lesbian and gay rights group and other appropriate community organizations in the process of making decisions and setting priorities on issues affecting the rights of lesbians and gay men?

Yes.

b) How does your party currently fulfill this commitment?

By ensuring full consultation with such organizations on issues of
concern. We actually listen to what people have to say.

c) How does your party plan on involving lesbian and gay rights groups and other appropriate community organizations in the policy, planning and service delivery of issues affecting lesbians and gay men in the next parliament and beyond?

Continue on working closely together on issues and assess them on merit. The Democrats also have a proud and liberal history of endorsing party members who are openly gay, lesbian or transgender to stand as candidate in State, Federal and Local Government elections.