Pre-Budget Submissions

Treasury

Langton Cres

Parkes ACT 2600

Submitted via email: PreBudgetSubmissions@treasury.gov.au

Thursday 25 January 2024

To whom it may concern

Supporting the Equality and Human Rights of the LGBTIQ Community

Thank you for the opportunity to provide this short submission to inform the Commonwealth Government’s development of its 2024-25 Budget.

I do so as a long-standing advocate on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) community.

In this capacity I submit the following four priorities for increased funding to support the realisation of equality and other fundamental human rights of LGBTIQ Australians.

1. Commissioner for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

The Commonwealth Government should fund the creation of a Commissioner for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics (SOGISC) within the AHRC.

Currently, there are Commissioners for:

• Race
• Sex
• Disability
• Age
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
• Children, and
• Human Rights.

However, when discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status was prohibited through passage of the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status) Act 2013, no equivalent position was established for our community.

The consequence of this omission is that responsibility within the AHRC for advocating on discrimination affecting LGBTIQ people has floated variously between the President, Human Rights Commissioner and Sex Discrimination Commissioner – with no permanent home, and therefore no sustained focus on the realisation of LGBTIQ human rights.

At the moment, responsibility for what is sometimes called the ‘LGBTIQ portfolio’ lies with Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody, who is somehow supposed to deal with the myriad issues affecting LGBTIQ Australians after they have addressed discrimination affecting women. They are supported in targeting LGBTIQ discrimination by just one dedicated full-time adviser, in contrast to the full team of advisers that support Commissioners on other topic areas.

This situation is simply not good enough. LGBTIQ equality and human rights deserve the same attention as other cohorts. This should be rectified by:

• Funding the creation of a stand-alone Commissioner for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics within the AHRC
• Supported by a team of advisers of the same size, and with the same resourcing, as existing Commissioners for Race, Disability and Age Discrimination.

2. National Strategy Against Anti-LGBTIQ Prejudice

The past 12 months have seen a dramatic escalation in anti-LGBTIQ violence and vilification across Australia, including:

• The TERF and neo-Nazi rally against trans people in Melbourne in March 2023
• The religious fundamentalist (‘Christian Lives Matter’) riot against queer protestors in Sydney in March 2023, and
• Fascist and far-right attempts to intimidate and shut down queer and queer-related community events, including drag story times, around the country.

As far as I am aware, there has been no formal, co-ordinated Commonwealth Government response to the rise of anti-LGBTIQ extremism during this time.

This stands in contrast to the Government’s commitment to addressing racism, including through its funding for and support of the development of a National Anti-Racism Framework (with work being undertaken by the AHRC).

Indeed, Commonwealth Minister for Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles MP cited neo-Nazi incidents as a justification for the Anti-Racism Framework. As reported by the Guardian:^[1]

“There have been at least two neo-Nazi incidents on the streets of Melbourne in recent times, and that lends a sense of urgency.” It was “more important than ever to have a society that is anchored in a sense that we all deserve to be valued.”

This overlooks the fact that, as noted above, one of, if not the most, prominent neo-Nazi event in 2023 was the TERF and neo-Nazi rally against trans rights on the steps of Victorian Parliament in March 2023.

If that incident provides justification for an Anti-Racism Framework, surely it must also provide justification, and motivation, for the Commonwealth Government to fund and develop a National Strategy Against Anti-LGBTIQ Prejudice.

After all, LGBTIQ Australians, and especially trans and gender diverse Australians, also ‘deserve to be valued’.

3. Gender affirming healthcare

Trans and gender diverse Australians should have the ability to live their authentic lives. For many, although not all, this involves accessing gender affirming healthcare, including (but not limited to) hormone treatments and gender affirmation surgical procedures.

However, for far too many trans and gender diverse people, this health care is financially out of reach, with prohibitive out-of-pocket costs attached to hormones, surgeries and other services.

This is a denial of the fundamental right to healthcare for people on the basis of who they are. It also carries significant consequences, with this lack of access contributing to higher rates of mental health issues, depression and even self-harm.

Gender affirming healthcare can be life-saving – while its denial can have the opposite outcome. This healthcare is not elective, but essential, and should be funded as such.

The Commonwealth Government should therefore use the 2024-25 Budget to remove out-of-pocket costs for gender affirming healthcare, including hormones, surgeries and other medical services which assist trans and gender diverse people live authentically.

4. A National Intersex Community-Controlled Healthcare Service

Finally, I am aware of a Pre-Budget Submission from Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA), which includes the following recommendation:

That the government provides $2,100,000 in annual resourcing to develop and sustain an intersex community-controlled healthcare service, to support the provision of biopsychosocial health and medical services for people with innate variations of sex characteristics and families, and support provision of policy advice to government. The service will be developed and run by Intersex Human Rights Australia, which currently provides advocacy and pilot psychosocial support services [emphasis in original].

I unreservedly endorse this call. The health needs of the intersex community are currently not being met by the Australian healthcare system, with manifestly inadequate resourcing undermining health outcomes for many intersex people.

IHRA is well-placed to contribute to the process of addressing these shortcomings, with what is a modest sum of money. As noted in their Pre-Budget Submission:

This proposal ensures that IHRA can support the currently unmet healthcare needs of children, parents and carers, prospective parents, and adults, across the lifespan, and beyond current funding arrangements. It incidentally seeks to ensure the sustainability of IHRA as an intersex community-controlled healthcare service provider…

It is my sincere hope funding can be found for this initiative in the upcoming Budget.

Please do not hesitate to content me, at the details provided, should you require additional information in relation to this submission.

Thank you in advance to taking these priorities into consideration.

Sincerely

Alastair Lawrie

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^[1] ‘Labor to speed up new anti-racism strategy amid voice and Israel-Hamas war tension’, Guardian Australia, 20 October 2023: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/20/labor-to-speed-up-new-anti-racism-strategy-amid-voice-and-israel-hamas-war-tensions