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Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Page: 18

Senator STEELE- JOHN (Western Australia) (13:52): Trans rights are human rights and the trans community is a wonderful, vibrant community that should be celebrated here in Australia, and it enrages me that it is even something—

Honourable senators interjecting—

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Polley ): Order! I just remind all senators that it is disorderly to interject and it's not helpful when you are interjecting and then a senator has to yell. So I remind everyone of the standing orders. Senator Steele-John, please continue.

Senator STEELE-JOHN: It enrages me almost beyond my ability to articulate that in 2023 the basic human rights of trans people still need to be asserted and reasserted and defended against those who would undermine them, those who would erase them and those who would blot them out of our community.

In the week when the community was preparing for the Trans Day of Visibility in Australia, this effort by those who would erase the trans community took a very, very serious turn, as a notorious international transphobe toured this nation and many in this place sat and said nothing. In fact, some cheered them on. Some organised and facilitated the rallies and organised gatherings—shame!—while many in the community organised to push back, to stare these bigots down and to proclaim that in Australia love is love is love and that the trans community should be celebrated. With strength and unity, this community ensured that, in every single place this vile excuse for a human being and their supporters raised their heads, they were pushed back upon, and I am so glad to say that they were sent packing in New Zealand. The Greens will always fully and unwaveringly back the trans community, because trans human rights are non-negotiable. (Time expired)