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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-08-25 Daily Xml
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International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter:

That this council—

1. Recognises 17 May as the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT);

2. Acknowledges that Monday 17 May 2021 marks 31 years since the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the classification of diseases and related health problems;

3. Condemns the ongoing discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer South Australians;

4. Opposes anti-LGBTIQ conversion practices, recognising the significant and lasting damage they cause to the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQ people; and

5. Commits to working toward acceptance and inclusion of all LGBTIQ people.

(Continued from 12 May 2021.)

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (17:57): I am grateful for the opportunity to make some remarks in relation to this particular motion, and I thank the Hon. Mr Hunter for putting it on the Notice Paper. The International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) was launched on 17 May 2004. The date that was chosen was for that occasion 31 years ago when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the classification of diseases and related health problems.

IDAHOBIT celebrates LGBTIQA+ people globally and raises awareness of the work still ahead to combat discrimination. In South Australia, since 2014, to celebrate IDAHOBIT the state government has traditionally provided a free breakfast on 17 May for the community, hosted by the Department of Human Services. Unfortunately, last year, due to the pandemic, the event had to be held online.

This year, the Marshall Liberal government has again provided funding to the South Australian Rainbow Advocacy Alliance (SARAA) to support the LGBTIQA+ community to lead an after work event at U City with poet and Aboriginal health educator Dominic Guerrera as a guest speaker, with refreshments and entertainment provided.

I would like to provide some information as a bit of an update for the chamber on some of our initiatives in a moment. Before that, however, I will provide some information in relation to paragraph 4 of the motion, which relates to conversion practices, about what work has been taking place by SA Health.

Conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change a person's sexual orientation by using coercive psychological, physical or spiritual interventions. It has been performed by a range of people under various hats, including professionals, priests and church ministers and even life coaches and counsellors. The Chief Psychiatrist has made it clear that this practice is outside the scope of therapeutic practice in all SA Health state-funded public mental health services, and this message has been communicated to health service clinicians working in these services.

In December 2019, the Chief Psychiatrist issued an internal memorandum to all public mental health services regarding the inappropriateness of gay conversion therapy, seeking confirmation that it was not provided, and all local health networks have confirmed that they do not provide or support such a therapy. A number of health practitioner professional health bodies, such as the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, the Psychological Society of Australia and the Australian Association of Social Workers, among others, formally recognise the harm this practice causes and acknowledge that it is not a therapeutic practice that anyone should endorse or provide.

In relation to some of the other initiatives which I think I have spoken about in this chamber before is the work of the South Australian Rainbow Alliance and the round table that the government held, I think in 2018, to commence some work to ensure that people in our rainbow communities are receiving services in an inclusive way and also to address a range of inequalities.

These come under a number of areas, that being wellbeing, in particular for children and young people, ageing and aged care, and health; safety, the Safe Spaces Program and domestic and family violence; equality, which covers invisibility and recognition, work and participation, law and policing; and capacity, which is regional and remote communities and overarching areas.

I will just provide some information about some of the work that has been taking place across government. Under the theme of Wellbeing for Children and Young People, there is some work that is led by the Department of Human Services to uphold the gender identity rights of children and young people that it works with. The Department for Education has also been involved in this space, as has the Department for Health and Wellbeing and child protection, the latter having recently published a practice paper to assist staff when they are supporting LGBTIQA+ children and young people in care and young people who are questioning their gender identity.

Under the theme of Wellbeing—Ageing and Aged Care, the Office for Ageing Well, in partnership with other organisations, has established eight Ageing Well Community Networks that provide safeguarding support and information to older people, including older LGBTIQA+ people. The Office for Ageing Well continues to support and roll out age-friendly customer service resources and training to frontline state government services to improve the experience of all of their customers in an inclusive way.

The Office for Ageing Well and the Seniors Card are sponsoring the fourth National LGBTIQA+ conference and Better Together will be providing 100 free registrations to senior card members. I think this conference may have already taken place so this is written in a different tense.

The 'Creating LGBTIQA+ Inclusive Aged Care Services in South Australia' report was commissioned by the Office for Ageing Well to explore issues that impact on the rainbow community in the aged-care sector. The report focused on access to and the appropriateness of aged-care assessment processes and aged-care service provision for the community, and identified potential solutions for consideration.

The Equality Project is a national promotion organisation for the rainbow community and has partnered with the Office for Ageing Well to develop a seniors training model to raise awareness about the issues facing older people in the rainbow community.

Under Wellbeing—Health, the Wellbeing SA Strategic Plan has identified LGBTIQA+ as a priority for the work of the agency. It has a commitment to ongoing inclusion for participants in the co-design of My Home Hospital service which will include continuing to engage with people when developing policy strategies and frameworks, working on inclusion training and considering the most appropriate model, including Rainbow Tick accreditation or other models.

The Suicide Prevention Plan has been under development in collaboration with many cohorts, including the LGBTIQA+ community. The mental health services plan specifically refers to LGBTIQA+ communities. The Office of the Chief Psychiatrist Lived Experience Team has supported the introduction of a gender neutral Mx prefix in its mental health record system within SA Health. There has been training to ensure delivery of safe and effective services, especially trauma-informed care.

Under the theme of 'safety and safe spaces', the Department for Correctional Services is updating their policy response outlining the treatment and management strategies for prisoners and offenders who identify as transgender or intersex to provide safe places.

In relation to safety in domestic and family violence, SA Police is reviewing its gay and lesbian liaison officer role. As we are all aware, there were two bills that passed this parliament, the Statutes Amendment (Abolition of Defence of Provocation and Related Matters) Bill and the Spent Convictions (Decriminalised Offences) Amendment Bill. The government continues to support SARA in its role in improving issues related to invisibility and recognition.

Under the theme of 'quality work and participation', all state government agencies have developed diversion and inclusion strategies and actions that aim to reflect the diverse community the public sector serves and to build diversity and inclusion.

I might leave it at that. There are a few other points but, given the time this evening, I will just make those remarks about the actions that the state government has been involved in, in undertaking to support the intent of this motion.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (18:06): I would like to thank the Hon. Robert Simms and the Hon. Michelle Lensink, Minister for Human Services, for their contributions. I long for the day when I no longer have to—or no-one has to—move and debate motions such as this in the chambers of parliament, but that day is not yet here, certainly not in Australia.

The unfortunate reality is that homophobia did not end with the passage of the amendments to the Equal Opportunity Act in 1986 in South Australia. Homophobia did not end with the equalisation of adoption, IVF and surrogacy laws in South Australia in 2016. Homophobia did not end with the passage of marriage equality across the country in 2017. My god, was it that long ago?

We parliamentarians have a duty to reject the dangerous idea that LGBTIQ people can be fixed or changed. We have a duty to call out homophobia and to prevent harm to our young LGBTIQ community, harm such as conversion therapy. IDAHOBIT is a day once a year where we have an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come but also to commit ourselves to how we can do better for our LGBTIQ community in South Australia, particularly the young, and for the future citizens of this state. I commend the motion and I look forward to its passage.

Motion carried.

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