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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-08-30 Daily Xml
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International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia

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

1. Recognises International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on Tuesday 17 May that is also known as IDAHOBIT;

2. Notes that, since its first celebration in 2004, IDAHOBIT had drawn attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions and sex characteristics; and

3. Congratulates the Malinauskas Labor government on its opposition to conversion therapy and its commitment to make sure that this practice does not occur in South Australia.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (22:49): I will take a few more moments than I did in the last motion. Again, I would like to thank honourable members who have made a contribution to this debate. I understand there are two sets of amendments that have been moved to it; one is in the name of Hon. Tammy Franks, which I will support. They are sensible motions. They leave out 'Tuesday' so that the motion applies generally rather than to one particular year.

Secondly, the Hon. Ms Franks corrects my language, replacing the word 'therapy' with 'practice' or 'practices', and again she is absolutely correct because in fact conversion therapy does not stand up as a term any longer. It is not therapy in any sense of the word. It is a coercive practice and in fact it is a very damaging one, so I support the amendments in the name of the Hon. Ms Franks. There is also an amendment in the name of the Hon. Michelle Lensink, which I will oppose.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, I do not know that the Hon. Ms Lensink ever actually moved that amendment, according to the Clerk.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Thank you. I will accept the amendment in the name of the Hon. Ms Franks and indicate that had there been a thought to moving another amendment I would have opposed it. Having said that to the council, I did want to take a moment to reflect on the role and contribution of the Hon. Michelle Lensink over her years in this place and also as minister in standing up for, defending and supporting the LGBTI community in South Australia. She and another honourable member in the other place, Ms Vickie Chapman, have been stalwarts in their defence over the years, and I wanted to put on the record my appreciation and thanks for their support.

I will not go through all the details, which I already went to in my original speech, about why motions such as this are important. They are not merely to commemorate particular events over the years; that would be a waste of the chamber's time I think. The reason why I bring these matters to the attention of the chamber is basically this: whilst there have been a number of changes over the last several decades which we can commend and support, and they were fantastic for their time, in many respects and in many places around the world things have not improved all that much.

I only look to a report put out by the LGBTIQ+ Health Australia organisation, 'Snapshot of mental health and suicide prevention statistics for LGBTIQ+ people' of October 2021—I will not table it, as it is on the public record and there is no need to waste chamber time with that either—and the statistics that are provided are alarming.

Briefly, 11 per cent of queer youth between the ages of 16 and 27 have attempted suicide in their lifetime—11 per cent. Forty-eight per cent of transgender and gender diverse people aged between the ages of 14 and 25 have attempted suicide in their lifetime—48 per cent. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people, and queer youth are four times more likely to commit suicide. Queer youth, when they have a space where they are accepted by the people around them and supported in their identity, report much lower rates of suicide attempt and ideation.

For those reasons alone, it is worth us as a chamber reflecting on what more we can do to improve the lives particularly of young people as they are discovering who they are, and hence my final paragraph essentially about congratulating the election commitment of the Malinauskas Labor government to remove and oppose conversion practices, as will be amended by the Hon. Ms Franks. I think it is something that we can all get behind, if only for nothing else, if only just for the improvement in the lives of young queer people in South Australia and that fewer of them will attempt suicide into the future. I commend the motion.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.

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