Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It was not my intention to contribute to this debate, not only because of the fantastic contributions already made by my colleague Senator Faruqi, a proud woman of colour, but also because of the fantastic contribution of my colleague Senator Allman-Payne, who has been a teacher for 30 years and is probably more qualified than anybody in this building to refute the absolute nonsense that has been scraped together in this piece of legislation. But I have been moved to speak to this bill as a young person and as the Greens mental health spokesperson because of the content of some of these contributions.

Let's be really clear what this is. This is a bill that has been brought before this chamber by people who wish to force community debate about some of the most important issues that can be discussed right now in our community and that are being discussed right now in our community. The role of race and power in this country and the deep and urgent need to support queer kids, particularly trans kids, in school in this country—these are conversations which our community is engaged with and which our community is grappling with, expending extraordinary emotional labour educating, informing, healing and helping people to gain new views, taking incredible amounts of time and energy in the process. And these people are coming in here to exploit those conversations for their own political gain.

The worst part of it, the very worst part of it, is that these people that have contributed to this conversation so far today, at their core and at their base, don't actually care about these conversations. They don't actually care about these issues; they are simply trying to get attention for themselves. That is why I have sat here so resistant to contribute to this conversation. Outside of this chamber these people, if not by the internal machinations of their own party, wouldn't be considered fit to run a lemonade stand in this country, let alone be one of its political decision-makers. Yet here they are right now. They are making these contributions, regardless of what they actually think, because they see political opportunity in it. So they brought something here dripping with hate, transphobia and racism.

Let me tell you what the reality of transphobia and racism is in modern-day Australia: 63 per cent of trans kids report self-harm and 43 per cent have attempted suicide. Have you any idea what it's like to sit with a friend or to look at them across the table and see the scars on their arms; what it's like to talk with their mum as she shares with you what it is like to sit with her kid in hospital wondering whether they're going to pull through; or what it is like to sit in a room full of some of the most marginalised and courageous human beings I have ever met as they sit across from overwhelmingly old, white, rich blokes and once again, for what must feel like the millionth time, justify their right to exist as they are and to ask for equal respect and treatment before the law of the community that they occupy?

To have this chamber brought low to such purposes demeans it. This should be a place in which people work to support those courageous community conversations that are happening right now. This should be a place that works to support parents talking with their kids about concepts that they might not have heard of before. It should be a place where we support communities to engage with the difficult conversations about the reality of our history and about the reality of what racism has done and is doing to communities across Australia. Instead, we get this legislative filth and this legislative hate, contributed to by MPs who admitted before they made their contribution this afternoon that they hadn't read the bill and didn't know the context, but just wanted to have a go anyway.

Particularly in relation to the racist elements of this bill—and this is a deeply racist piece of legislation—what is happening here is a bunch of people who have been dominant in the decision-making spaces of Australia since its foundation as a national entity are feeling just a little bit of pressure and a little bit of pushing to not be the centre of attention all of the time and to not be the primary decision-maker in every conversation. They are terrified that children in schools might now have the opportunity to learn the truth of our history, not only in relation to race but also in relation to the role that misogyny has played in Australian history and still plays in Australian society.

One of these senators gave an example. He read to the chamber what he felt was an outrageous case of wokeism. It was a teacher inviting their students to imagine what it would be like to be a different gender than they are, to engage in a basic act of empathy. These men come in here and denigrate empathy. They shame empathy. In so doing, they reveal the hollowness of their own character. You'd be able to write it off as this tiny fraction of folks, but in reality these are the ones that are willing to say it out loud. These are the ones that are willing to put it on record.

The sad shame of the moment is that, in addition to these people, there are many in this place who either share their views or are unwilling when they hear them to challenge them. That is not okay. Right now in our community people are putting their bodies and minds on the line to challenge these narratives, and they have a lot less structural and institutional power than an MP. So I challenge anyone and everyone who would oppose this bill today to do so behind closed doors with your colleagues.

I am under no illusion. I am very thankful that there will not be, I would imagine, a single trans person in Australia, a single queer person in Australia and very few people of colour that would watch the contributions of these people from One Nation, from the Liberal and National parties and from whatever is left of the Palmer party and see them as a point of reference. These people say, 'We'll engage in the intellectual discussions being made with these individuals.' I don't think that's very likely. What I do think likely is that these hate filled contributions make their way onto social media platforms, guided by algorithms put together by corporations whose sole purpose is to make a profit, and they end up in front of mums, dads and grandparents—particularly of trans kids. So if any of those folks are watching tonight, I want to bring you back to those statistics: 63 per cent of trans kids and trans people have self-harmed; 43 per cent have attempted suicide.

If we look at prevention, a massive impact on reducing that figure is if that person has, in their life, one parent that supports them. The rates of suicide and self-harm plunge if they can identify somebody in their lives, particularly a parent, who loves them. So if you're watching these videos, if you've watched these contributions, if you're the parent to a wonderful, fantastic child who may be questioning their gender identity—who may have come fully and beautifully into a diverse gender identity, that may be experimenting in being part of those communities, embracing them with pride—then go and hug them and tell them that you love them, because that is one of the best things you can do to keep them safe and happy. Know that your child is fantastic.

If you are a trans person, if you are a person of colour, if you are anybody touched by this hate filled filth, know that these views are not shared by the entirety of this chamber, and they are views which are actively—and will be, consistently—opposed by the Greens every single step of the way.