Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to add my support for a great Queensland business: go Beefy's pies! Last Thursday evening in Brisbane, it was my great pleasure to be the guest speaker at the Queensland launch of Out for Australia. Out for Australia is an organisation that seeks to support and mentor aspiring LGBTIQ professionals as they navigate their way through the early stages of their careers. I commend them for the work that they do in bringing the community together, for providing a supportive and nurturing environment in which people can network, build relationships and assist each other in a professional network. The work Out for Australia does is directly aimed at dissolving prejudice and discrimination in Australian workplaces in a very positive way. To this extent, I am very pleased to acknowledge Out for Australia's principal sponsor, Baker and McKenzie, as well as industry partners: the Commonwealth Bank, PWC, Google and the Boston Consulting Group.

A person's sexuality should not be been seen as a stigma or the basis of prejudice. Ultimately, the strength of any society is derived from its ability to embrace and accept diversity. Rather than condemn people for their sexual orientation, greater acceptance of anyone's sexuality, far from tearing us apart, will in fact bring us together. That is what acceptance does: it unites. Congratulations to Out for Australia's CEO, Matt Yeldman, and Queensland director, Luke Furness, on the very successful launch. I look forward to helping them in any way I can and I wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.