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Parliament of NSW

The Greens NSW answers to the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby Questions

3 February 2003

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

The Greens is absolutely committed to full equality for lesbians, gay men, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in NSW. We believe that our policy is the most comprehensive and progressive of any political party, and in the NSW Parliament our MPs have strongly supported equality whenever the opportunity arose.

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

The Greens have strategies to ensure equality that operate both inside the Parliament and in the community.

In the NSW Parliament, Greens MPs Lee Rhiannon and Ian Cohen have pro-actively supported equality. For example, when the Bill to deliver an equal age of consent was debated in 1999, and ultimately defeated, Greens MPs worked hard to win over crucial cross-bench MPs. When the Adoption Bill 2000 was debated, Lee Rhiannon moved amendments to remove the homophobic discrimination in that Bill. Greens MPs have also promoted equality by asking questions of Ministers during Question Time. On 6th June 2002 Lee Rhiannon asked the Special Minister of State whether he would take a lead from the New Zealand Prime Minister and apologise to the gay and lesbian community for the discrimination of past governments. On 11th April 2002 Lee Rhiannon asked the Treasurer whether he supported the Premier?s expressed sympathy for an equal age of consent, or whether he supported the view of Country Labor Convenor Tony Kelly that an equal age of consent is a ?radical view.? On 9th April 2002 Lee Rhiannon asked the Treasurer whether a government representative had faxed an article from the Sydney Star Observer, featuring John Brogden?s sympathetic views on an equal age of consent, to rural media outlets as a form of wedge politics. These key strategies will continue in the new Parliament.

The Greens Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Spokesperson and The Greens Parliamentary Office has been developing a Bill to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act. It is proposed that the Bill will remove the homophobic exemptions applying to small businesses, private schools, private households and religious organisations, and provide additional protection for same sex defacto couples, bisexual and intersex people. A draft version will shortly be forwarded to relevant organisations for consultation. The Greens will proceed with this Bill in the new Parliament. We believe that this strategy will draw considerable attention to the existing discriminatory provisions.

Outside of the Parliament, The Greens are also campaigning to deliver equality. We work, and will continue to work, to support the LGBTI communities through our involvement in events such as Mardi Gras and Fair Day. Within The Greens, we will continue to work to promote LGBTI candidates for public office and we will continue to have a LGBTI spokesperson who will promote our policy and aims broadly.

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

As The Greens has only 2 MPs in NSW, it has not been practical to formally divide up portfolio responsibilities to date. Both MPs have therefore had responsibility for these issues, and have acted accordingly. This election we are hopeful of increasing our representation in the Parliament to 3 or more, and should this take place it is likely that we will move to a more formal portfolio division.

The Greens party has a spokesperson on LGBTI issues, Ms Emelia Holdaway. Ms Holdaway has held this position for some years, and has worked hard to represent LGBTI issues on behalf of The Greens and give voice to our policy. Ms Holdaway authored The Greens LBGTI Policy, which was the first to provide a policy platform for intersex people and people with intersex conditions.

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

The Greens unequivocally supports an equal age of consent of 16 for all persons in NSW regardless of gender or sexuality.

It is a matter of considerable embarrassment and shame for NSW that we are now the only state in Australia with this homophobic provision. When it was last put to a vote in 1999, The Greens MPs voted for the Bill and also strongly lobbied other MPs to do so as well. We were very disappointed when late last year the Bill moved by Ms Jan Burnswoods was referred by the Attorney-General to an Inquiry. The Greens believe that it is morally incumbent upon whoever forms government after the election to come forward with a Cabinet-backed Bill, not a Private Member?s Bill, and to not allow a conscience vote. Age of consent is a simple matter of human rights, not a complex moral issue deserving of a conscience vote.

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

The Greens are absolutely committed to the best possible strategy to deliver an equal age of consent in the shortest possible timeframe.
To date we have not introduced such legislation only because other MPs have already done so, and we did not believe that it would assist the campaign for an equal age of consent to have multiple identical Bills. Instead we have focussed our legislative efforts upon reform of the Anti-Discrimination Act.

In the new Parliament, The Greens are committed to working with other sympathetic cross-benchers, and major party MPs, to achieve an equal age of consent. We will ensure that legislation is introduced at the first available opportunity. The vagaries of Legislative Council procedure mean that it is impossible to know in advance when, or in what order,
MPs will have the opportunity to introduce Private Member?s Bills. Regardless of the mover of the Bill, we give an absolute commitment that our MPs will both vote and lobby for any Bill that will deliver an equal age of consent.

c) As a report by the University of NSW (2001) 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?

This question is not applicable to The Greens. Nevertheless, we are fully conscious of the negative health and welfare implications of an unequal age of consent, and indeed such arguments have informed our public pronouncements on this topic.

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

The Greens recognise the validity and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in family units, and we fully support the rights of LGBTI people as parents.

In particular, we support measures to prevent discrimination on the grounds of sexuality in child custody cases, the achievement of non-discriminatory fostering and adoption practices and equal rights of access to in vitro fertilisation and artificial insemination services.

Greens amendments to the Adoption Bill 2000 sought to provide non-discriminatory delivery of adoption services. Unfortunately the government would not support equality on that occasion.

The Greens give an absolute commitment that we will continue, on every possible occasion, to move amendments to remove provisions from government Bills which discriminate against LGBTI families or parents. We further commit that we will continue to support any legislation that seeks to deliver equality in these areas.

Unfortunately the Legislative Council procedures allow Greens MPs to advance very few Private Member?s Bills to the stage where they are actually debated. In the past 4 years, this has occurred on only 4 occasions. At the present time, our focus is on our Bill to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act to remove homophobic exemptions and extend protection to bisexual and intersex people. We are also committed to introducing legislation for an equal age of consent. When these Bills have been debated and resolved, we are committed to legislation to provide equality for LGBTI families and parents.

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

The Greens are fully committed to the rights of LGBTI families and parents. We support the legal recognition of partners of biological parents as co-parents of a child born through artificial insemination. The amendments which Lee Rhiannon moved to the Adoption Bill 2000 would in fact have achieved this outcome by allowing non-biological parents in LGBTI relationships to apply to adopt and become the legal parent of the couple's children.

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

The Greens fully support amending the Adoption Act to allow same-sex couples to adopt children. In fact, when the then Adoption Bill was debated in 2000, Lee Rhiannon moved 3 amendments on behalf of The Greens. Those 3 amendments were designed to work in concert by redefining ?couple? to include ?two persons who are the parties to a de facto relationship?, redefining ?de facto relationship? to give it the inclusive definition that it has in the Property (Relationships) Act 1984, and to redefine ?spouse? to include ?the other person in a de facto relationship?with the person.? The effect of these amendments would have been to include same sex relationships within the definition of de facto relationships, and to broaden the category of couples allowed to adopt to include such de facto relationships.

Unfortunately these amendments were defeated, as Labor joined up with the Coalition and conservative cross-benchers to vote against them.

a) Will your party enact legislation that will amend the Anti-Discrimination Act, so that charities, religious bodies, voluntary bodies, and aged care organisations 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?

The Greens Parliamentary Office has been working for nearly a year with our LGBTI Spokesperson on a Private Member?s Bill to reform the Anti-Discrimination Act. This Bill will shortly be forwarded to the relevant organisations for consultation. It is the intention of The Greens to proceed with this Bill as a high priority in the new Parliament.

One of the key provisions of our Bill is the removal of the exemptions for charities, religious bodies, voluntary bodies and aged care organisations, as well as the exemptions for business with less than 5 employees, private educational authorities and private household employment.

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

The Greens' Bill to reform the Anti-Discrimination Act includes a provision to extend discrimination protection to same sex de facto relationships.

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

One of the motivations for The Greens in developing a comprehensive Bill to reform the Anti-Discrimination Act is a desire to both make it more applicable to LGBTI people and to promote it amongst LGBTI communities. We believe that by campaigning on this issue and by talking about it in public and in the media, we can raise awareness of its provisions and how they can be accessed.

In addition, we will continue to lobby the government, irrespective of who wins the election, to provide funding for community education campaigns with regard to the Anti- Discrimination Act. Such campaigns should seek to inform the community of their rights and the procedures for objecting to discrimination, and also encourage people who have been or may be discriminated against to speak out and use the provisions of the Act.

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

The Greens believe that we have a responsibility, as a political party with representatives elected to public office, to promote tolerance and acceptance of sexuality and gender diversity. Community and individual attitudes are difficult to change and require political and cultural leadership and targeted programs that address inequality and support tolerance and respect for diversity. The Greens will continue to advocate for the removal of non-violent homosexual advance as a defence for violent attack.

One strategy that The Greens will continue to employ is to promote LGBTI party members into the public arena as candidates for public office, elected officials and party spokespeople. We are very proud of the fact that Senator Bob Brown was the first openly gay MP in federal Parliament and WA Greens MP Giz Watson was Australia?s first openly lesbian MP. We believe that promoting LGBTI people into the public arena is an important part of an effective strategy to counter homophobia and the resulting violence and harassment.

We will also continue as a party to display our support for sexual and gender diversity. This includes participation in events such as Mardi Gras, statements made in the Parliament or at public events and comments made in the media. We believe that we can play an important role in combating homophobia by our public pronouncements of support for sexual and gender diversity.

Greens MPs will also continue to lobby the government to increase funding for community education projects to counter homophobia, violence and harassment. There is a crucial role that government must play, which The Greens will do everything possible to encourage governments to fulfil.

The Greens also support reforming policing practice towards a more community policing focus. We believe that police should be out in the community, walking a beat, rather than simply driving around or policing by statistics from behind a desk. We believe that police activities should be re-oriented away from ineffective strategies such as sniffer dog searches of public places, and towards engaging with the community and understanding its problems and needs. The Greens support the continuation and expansion of programmes to educate and sensitise the police service on LGBTI issues and the expansion of liaison mechanisms between the police service and the LGBTI communities.

We also support the continued recruitment of LGBTI police officers, and the use of special liaison officers to deal with incidents of homophobic violence or harassment.

b) 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?

The Greens fully support programs in secondary schools to educate about and prevent homophobia. As we are not in government, we are not in a position to enact such programs; nevertheless we will support them at every opportunity. Furthermore, our Greens MPs give a commitment to seek a meeting with whoever is Minister for Education following the election to lobby for such programs.

a) Will your party amend the following pieces of legislation, so that the relationships of lesbians and gay men are fully recognised 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

The Greens are absolutely committed to full legal equality for LGBTI relationships under NSW law, and we are committed to voting to secure such equality whenever an opportunity arises, including in the above acts.

While we have limited ability to get our legislation debated, The Greens are committed to developing legislation to have the discriminatory elements of these acts removed.
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a) In April 2000, the Victorian Government established a ministerial advisory committee on ?Gay and Lesbian Health? to advise the Minister for Health on matters relating to the health and well-being of Victoria?s gay and lesbian communities. Will your party commit to establishing a similar committee in NSW?

The Greens are fully committed to measures to improve the health and well-being of NSW?s LGBTI communities.

Greens MPs will seek a meeting with whoever is the Minister for Health following the election to lobby for such an advisory committee and will continue to support its establishment.

b) Will you enact/support programs that take a holistic approach to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention (eg adopting policy that recognises 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.

The Greens support holistic approaches to all health issues as detailed in our Health Policy. The Greens support programs that take a holistic approach to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Greens policy supports the provision of social services, and in particular public housing, for people living with HIV/AIDS. The prevention of HIV/AIDS related poverty is a key priority.

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?

Greens LGBTI policy recognises and prioritises LGBTI youth suicide as an immediate and major issue. The Greens support the provision of adequate state government leadership and funding for services to support and protect LGBTI youth, in particular suicide prevention programs, counselling, peer support, coming out and housing services and programs.

The Greens believe that a comprehensive and wholistic approach is required and will continue to advocate and support the following:

• equalising the ages of consent for sexual activity regardless of the participants? gender or
  sexuality
• the training of youth service providers and other youth professionals in the needs of young
  LGBTI people.
• the provision of factual and affirming materials about sexuality and gender identity at the
  primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the education system, both public and private
• the facilitation and resourcing of representative groups for LGBTI youth, including students;
  and
• the mandatory development and implementation of sexuality and gender diversity antidiscrimination
  policies in all public and private schools including the establishment of
  adequate grievance procedures for LGBTI students.

We will continue to raise the issue of LGBTI youth suicide, both inside and outside of Parliament, whenever appropriate. We will also lobby governments on this topic in support of any particular campaign or initiative of the GLRL or other community organisation.

The Greens believe that our Bill to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act will assist in providing a social and cultural climate (and hopefully also legal climate) where homophobic discrimination in private schools, religious organisations and other organisations that involve young people will no longer be tolerated and allowed.

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

The issue of LGBTI youth poverty and homelessness is complex, and a package of
measures is required to provide an effective solution. The Greens are committed to a social housing package that will address the broader issue of increasing homelessness as well as specific measures aimed at the LGBTI community. We are committed to increasing funding for public housing and crisis accommodation. We will also advocate for reach out and counselling services for at risk youth and their families in urban and rural areas. We believe it is important that these services are more accessible and that young people are explicitly made aware of the services through the school curriculum. However, The Greens also believe that addressing issues of discrimination and homophobia are vital to ensuring that young people are not consistently placed in a position where they need to access crisis services. We will advocate to ensure that the needs of LGBTI and same-sex attracted youth are included in all youth policies, including policies on youth suicide and homelessness. Our parliamentarians will continue to work actively to achieve full legal equality, to ensure public awareness and education campaigns within schools and to provide adequate funding for counselling and housing services that are needed by young LGBTI people.

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

Greens policy supports adequate funding for LGBTI youth services including counselling and coming out services. In particular, The Greens will continue to advocate for the facilitation and resourcing of representative and peer support groups for LGBTI youth, including students. This policy should be seen in the context of active lobbying for the implementation of compulsory anti-homophobia strategies in schools as well as compulsory LGBTI policies and grievance procedures in schools. Our parliamentarians will continue to actively lobby the incoming government to ensure that these issues are addressed. The Greens are committed to making schools and society in general a safe lace for young people to identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

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

The Greens are committed to involving lesbian and gay rights groups and broader LGBTI communities in all aspects of decision making. This includes a commitment to establishing LGBTI advisory committees in key portfolios, such as health; establishing community liaison committees with agencies whose work effects LGBTI communities, such as the police; and establishing an adequately funded State Office for the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People. We commit to lobbying whomever forms the next Government to ensure the LGBTI communities are fully involved in all aspects of decision making affecting their communities. The Greens are also committed to continuing to work with lesbian and gay rights groups to determine policy and set priorities for the party.

b) How does your party currently fulfil this commitment?

A key principle of Greens policy is a commitment to grass roots democracy. This means a commitment to adequately resourcing communities to find solutions to their own problems.

This local empowerment approach encourages the growth of strong communities and usually produces the most effective solutions to community problems.

Within our own organisation, The Greens have a long history of working in partnership with community and lobby groups, including consultation, sharing resources and providing a voice for community groups in a range of forums. The Greens are committed to the further development of our partnerships and the facilitation of two-way communications with LGBTI rights groups and community organisations.

This is evidenced in what we believe is the most progressive LGBTI policy of any political party and in the actions of our state MPs. The Greens are committed, and will remain committed, to consulting with all relevant organisations on proposed amendments to the Anti-discrimination Act, the drafting of questions in parliament and setting priorities for parliamentary and media work. We will continue to work to promote LGBTI candidates for public office and we will continue to have a LGBTI spokesperson who is committed to consulting with lesbian and gay rights organisations and the community generally.

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

The Greens are committed to involving LGBTI communities in the development of policy, legislation and other aspects of government affecting these communities. The Greens commit to consulting broadly on our proposed amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act.

Through The Greens spokesperson and our elected representatives we commit to continue to work with the LGBTI community on determining priorities, policy and achieving outcomes on issues that affect these communities.

The Greens will continue to advocate for:

• formal and regular liaison between the LGBTI communities and Government agencies whose work impacts on those communities, including police, education and health; and
• LGBTI community representation on Government advisory and consultative committees whose deliberations and decision-making impacts on the community, including those concerned with human rights, social justice and family issues.

In addition, The Greens recognise that adequate funding is essential to support the consultation and involvement of LGBTI rights groups and community organisations in policy development, planning and service delivery of issues that affect the LGBTI communities. We believe that it is important that the LGBTI communities are given genuine resources and power and that consultation not be allowed to degenerate into a
public relations exercise.