Liberal senator Andrew Bragg was forced to defend his party’s stance on gender and trans rights at a queer election forum on Tuesday night after being confronted with an unexpected question from the event’s moderator.
Hosted by LGBTQIA+ advocacy group Equality Australia and moderated by drag queen Courtney Act, the event was billed as a chance to “discuss the issues that matter most to our community” ahead of the May 3 federal election.
The panel featured Greens MP and LGBTQIA+ spokesperson Stephen Bates, independent MP for Wentworth Allegra Spender, Labor MP Kate Thwaites, and Bragg for the Liberals.
But the night’s most charged moment came when Act questioned Bragg over responses submitted by Liberal candidates to an Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) election questionnaire, published on the group’s australiavotes.org.au website.
One of those responses – Bragg’s own – had been provided to the ACL by Liberal Party headquarters.
It reads: “We affirm the biological fact that there are two sexes, and a small group who are intersex or indeterminate. We want women’s spaces to be protected – particularly women’s sport – consistent with the principles of fairness and safety. Similarly, we believe in protecting the innocence and sanctity of childhood.”
Act put to Bragg, who has a history of standing up for the LGBTIA+ community, that some of the responses “raised questions about the opposition’s support for trans people”.
In response, Bragg said: “So I think to do with the sports issue … my view is that the sporting organisations [can] work that out themselves; they don’t need parliament or government to come in and do anything.
“For the bulk of Australia there are two sexes but there are people who identify differently for various reasons. I’m a ‘live and let live’ kind of guy, so, I think, you know, I’m not worried about what people want to do, frankly.”
Act pressed further: “These are Liberal Party responses, so I guess what we’re concerned about is, if this is coming from the Liberal Party’s answers to a questionnaire, it does make people in this room feel uncomfortable about whether the Liberal Party does support trans people or not”.
Bragg replied: “We support everyone. We’re against discrimination.”
Act also highlighted another answer from the questionnaire, where the Liberal Party’s statement to the Christian lobby, also attributed to Bragg on the australiavotes.org.au website, said: “…we are strongly committed to protecting faith-based schools”.
“It feels like that question could imply that young people in faith-based schools wouldn’t be safe if they came out as LGBTQ,” Act said.
Bragg reiterated: “That’s not our position. Our position in relation to these issues is that we are against discrimination.”
Healthcare reform was another key topic at the forum, with the Greens promising free access to HIV prevention medication and Labor promoting a more inclusive health system for LGBTQIA+ people.
“The Greens are committed to fully fund PrEP under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme going forward, PrEP and PEP; it’s about $6 million a year and [has been] costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office,” said the Greens’ Bates.
“That is something we would be able to do to make sure people have access to the healthcare they need, when they need it, at no cost to them,” he said.
The Greens have also pledged to include gender-affirming healthcare under Medicare.
All parties represented voiced support for Labor’s recently launched LGBTIQA+ National Action Plan, which was last year given $15.5 million in initial funding.
“This is a sign of our commitment … it is a sign of how passionate we are about this, how grateful we are to everyone who’s done the work with us,” said Labor’s Thwaites.
She added that last week Labor also committed an additional $10 million over four years to subsidise training for primary healthcare professionals in delivering inclusive LGBTQIA+ care.
Bragg confirmed the Liberal Party would also fund the strategy.
Meanwhile, Spender and Bates welcomed the plan but flagged concerns about its implementation. Both vowed to hold the government accountable.
“My role here is to hold the government to account – whatever government that is – to make sure this plan is delivered,” said Spender.
That sense of oversight from independents defined what they spoke about on the evening, with Spender and Bates aligning on most issues and highlighting their past collaboration on proposed reforms to the Sex Discrimination Act. Both advocated for the removal of provisions allowing religious schools to sack LGBTQIA+ staff or expel students.
Labor ultimately shelved the reforms, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying they would need bipartisan support from the the Liberal-National coalition before being put before parliament.
“It was disappointing when there was a path through parliament that didn’t involve the Coalition, that that was not taken,” said Bates, referring to the Greens offering to work with Labor to pass the changes.
“One of the most humiliating moments of my life was standing up in parliament saying, ‘Will you please give me my rights, sir’,” Bates said.
At this point of the night, divisions between the major parties became clearer. Thwaites again stressed the need for bipartisan support, while Bragg blamed Labor for the bill’s failure.
“The government did not allow that bill to be publicly disclosed, they gave it to us in secret … so the public hasn’t seen the Labor Party’s bill,” said Bragg.
“I think the reality is that there may have been opportunities to progress this, but who knows.”
Thwaites countered: “We were in the situation where the Liberal Party would not engage with us on these laws, so we could not find a way forward on them.”
Gay Sydney News reporter