Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I spoke earlier this week on the disgraceful scenes we saw outside Victorian parliament on the weekend. Now today outside this parliament there was an extremely small rally against trans people in our community—a rally designed to spread hate. Shamefully, it was attended by some members of this place. So let me be clear, there is absolutely no place for anti-trans hatred on our streets, there is no place for it in the halls or on the lawns of this parliament and there is no place for it in our Australian community.

My message to trans and gender-diverse people today is: in this place we hear you, we see you and we stand with you. This is an opportunity for everyone in this place to stand together with the trans community. It is 2023, people! It is absolutely extraordinary that the LGBTQIA community are still facing attacks today, after everything that they've fought for, after everything they have stood up for and after everything they have had to go through just to live with pride in our community.

We on this side of the chamber will not stand for it. The government stands with the trans community. We will not accept on our watch one backward step on LGBTQIA rights. We will not accept on our watch one backward step on trans rights. This is an opportunity for the coalition to stand with us on this. It is an opportunity for Mr Dutton to stand with us on this. He has still not stood with the trans community. He has not shown his support for a community—and let's not mince words here—who are under complete attack. I call on him to do that today.