Bills

Statutes Amendment (Gender Identity and Equity) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 12 April 2016.)

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (18:21): South Australia has a proud, progressive history. We were the first jurisdiction in Australia to legislate to permit women to vote, and the first place in the world to end discrimination against women standing for parliament. South Australia was the first state in our nation's history to decriminalise homosexuality. South Australia was the first state to legislate against sex discrimination with the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (later superseded by the Equal Opportunity Act 1984). This bill continues in that proud tradition of progress and ending discrimination.

In January 2015, the government asked the South Australian Law Reform Institute (SALRI) to examine laws that may discriminate against gender and sexual minorities in South Australia. SALRI, in its September 2015 report, identified numerous pieces of legislation and regulations that were discriminating against citizens of South Australia. This bill is part of the process to rectify these injustices. As my colleague in the other place, Katrine Hildyard MP, said in her comments on this bill, 'Many South Australians will not even realise that these laws have changed, but for those whom they will affect these changes will have a profound impact'. Truer words could not be spoken.

The bill will do nothing to remove or change any rights people currently have; what it will do is give those who are currently discriminated against by archaic and out of date wording the rights they deserve as South Australian citizens. As noted in the other place by Vickie Chapman MP, we have done this before. We have changed wording in legislation to be more equitable to include women as equals to men. Now we do the same for those who are gender diverse or sexual minorities.

Language is the primary means of communication and it is an extremely powerful social force. The language that we use does more than convey referential information; it also reflects the underlying attitude of the speaker and underpins social attitudes. I rise to make this brief contribution in support of this bill today because of the importance of ensuring that legislation incorporates inclusive language, free from words that reflect prejudice, stereotypes or discriminatory views.

I am very proud to support this bill for two reasons: first, because I have always and will always advocate for gender equality and the equality of all gender and sexual minorities; and, secondly, because I believe South Australia has shown time and time again that it is a progressive and accepting place and I want to build on that reputation. It is for those reasons that I enthusiastically and very proudly support this bill for equality and acceptance.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (18:25): I understand that my colleague the Hon. Dennis Hood is intending to make quite a long speech about this. He may want to come to the chamber after I finish and perhaps start, and then seek leave to conclude while we wait for a message to come back from the other house. My remarks will be brief because I am not the lead speaker on this in our party; it is the Hon. Dennis Hood.

Whilst there are some things that I personally agree with in the Statutes Amendment (Gender Identity and Equity) Bill, there are some things that I absolutely disagree with. I think we are getting to a point in time where political correctness has gone mad in South Australia, and as an example I highlight what was in the original piece of legislation that was tabled in the House of Assembly. Fortunately, there was enough wisdom down there to correct it.

We were told in the legislation that you would not be able to call a pregnant woman a 'pregnant woman' any longer, you had to refer to the person as a 'pregnant person'. That is an absolute nonsense, in my opinion, and if that had come up here I would have done everything in my power to knock it out. If it did become law, I would be breaking the law because there is no way known that I am ever going to call a pregnant woman a 'pregnant person' because it is a 'pregnant woman', not a 'pregnant person'.

This is the stupidity that we are dealing with. We have an economy that is not travelling at all well, unfortunately and sadly, and we have high unemployment. We have a lot of serious issues that we should be debating, but we tend to spend time on political correctness. We also tend to spend far too much time focused on legislating for a minority of people and, in some cases, less than 1 per cent.

When you talk to the quiet majority of the population they shake their head at what we are doing in a lot of these circumstances, so I put on the public record that I am also shaking my head. I think it is time we focused on the majority of people, not the absolute very small minorities in an attempt to satisfy their requirements at a cost to the majority of people. I would ask that we focus back on big-picture items. I leave the rest of our party's contribution to the very able Hon. Dennis Hood, who will spend much more time speaking on behalf of Family First in regard to this legislation.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: Mr President, I draw your attention to the state of the council.

A quorum having been formed:

Sitting extended beyond 18:30 on motion of Hon. K.J. Maher.