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I'm representing the gay and lesbian rights lobby from New South Wales. So I work as a senior policy advisor. Um, so in terms of my professional background, I do political lobbying in Australia around the recognition of same sex couples and their families. Um, in addition to that, I also, uh, have a bit of an academic kind of background in sexuality, law and cultural studies. And I've just finished my thesis looking at the way sexuality and persecution is understood [00:00:30] in refugee law in Australia. And I'm here at the conference to present some of my research in one of the conference rooms. What were some of the findings in your research? Largely that the way sexuality is understood is very, very isotype. Um, it comes from a very ethnocentric or anglophone idea of, um, sexuality, as you know, enabled through consumerism through public space, through promiscuity through, you know, association [00:01:00] with particular cultural objects like Madonna or Oscar Wilde. And so, um, a lot of the problems faced by diaspora or displaced sexual minorities is that they don't readily identify with the kind of tropes that or stereotypes that decision makers feel that sexuality is, and so part of my research was sort of critiquing the ways in which sexuality needs to be understood in very specific historical and cultural circumstances and that people may [00:01:30] not even understand the vocabulary of gay and lesbian and yet still face persecution on the basis of their attraction or gender presentation and so forth. So what do you think are the biggest issues facing queer communities in Australia at the moment? Legislatively speaking, Australia still lacks federal anti discrimination laws that protect sexual and gender minorities. Um, marriage equality is also another considerable issue, um, impeding the rights of sexual and gender minorities for [00:02:00] adequate relationship recognition. Um, sex and gender diverse communities also have a broad range of issues in terms of access to medical treatment. Um, identity recognition on official documents, um, and so forth. So there are still considerable gaps, uh, in terms of the legislative framework in Australia. But, you know, very recently in New South Wales, we've seen, um, a good push towards the recognition of same sex families with, uh, same sex couple adoption, ending the last piece of direct legislative discrimination [00:02:30] in the state of New South Wales, For example, what do you kind of take out of these kind of conferences. I think there's a lot to take out from these conferences, especially conferences, which bring together such a diverse and eclectic mix of individuals working in a different across different areas. I think primarily what we need to understand is that any form of activism are dedicated to ensuring the rights and recognition of sexual and gender. Minorities has to be interdisciplinary. It has to work across the board. It can't just be located in legislation or policy. [00:03:00] It needs to be located in cultural change, in social change in education. And I think in these sorts of conferences that really bring together that interdisciplinary, we're able to better our own work in the disciplines that we do work in and to ensure a more holistic and kind of diverse approach to, um, activism and to social justice for sexual and gender minorities. How do you kind of keep that momentum going from a conference like this? You know, basically turning words into into actions. What? What do you think you will do when you get back to Australia? Well, at the moment, [00:03:30] um, we're currently working on achieving federal anti discrimination legislation, Um, and also, um, at a state level, working towards getting policies around homophobic bullying in schools and getting funding and resourcing. And at this conference, I know that there is a specific focus on, you know, rights and legislation, um, and also around education. And so hopefully, um, hearing some of the research presented hearing some of the models that have been utilised, say in different jurisdictions, um will help inform [00:04:00] my work and what I'll be able to report back to the to the government, um, in New South Wales and in Australia about what our current models, What our current best practise approaches, Um, in order to ensure that, you know, the work that we do isn't reinventing the wheel, but consistent with the good models that we see around the world, Have you yourself personally had any kind of discrimination or human rights issues? Sexuality related, Um, not directly. Oddly, I tend to find more race based discrimination [00:04:30] in Australia than I do sexuality, but that has to do with other privileges that I have as well in terms of class and and education and that kind of thing. Um, I think one of The really interesting things about a conference such as this is that it highlights the kind of, uh, intersectionality of discrimination in that you know, we're never just gay or lesbian or discriminated on the basis of just our sexuality or gender identity. But complementary factors like race, gender, nationality, class, faith, you know, ability, [00:05:00] uh, age, all those kinds of factors into plays in how we get discriminated against. And these sorts of conferences really draw attention to the importance of thinking about discrimination and social justice in a much more broad, diverse, holistic approach than a discrete kind of way of thinking about identity is So tell me about racism in Australia. Um, wow, that's a big question. Um, I think unlike, unlike New Zealand, I think Australia still has a long way to go in terms of its recognition of the indigenous populations. [00:05:30] Um, currently, there's a discussion around getting the indigenous people or the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people recognised in our Constitution, which currently does not exist. Um, I think race as a term is very reluctantly used, and racism is a very reluctant term. I think multiculturalism is often used as the kind of policy vehicle, um, to kind of stifle any discussion around racism. Um, and yet we've seen that multiculturalism is really this kind of fiction, [00:06:00] Um, that the government, uh, tends to use, in order to, you know, consolidate all these cultural differences together or, you know, harmonise them for their own purposes. And yet we still face systemic discrimination on the basis of race. You just look at asylum seekers and the treatment of them in Australia and the way they're mobilised as political footballs during any federal election. Um, still indigenous issues around health and education and welfare and the Northern Territory intervention [00:06:30] in terms of, you know, uh, dealing with child sexual assault, but with a very blanket. Very, you know, non consultative, very neocolonial approach has seen disastrous effects in the Northern Territory and other indigenous communities. So I think Australia does need to move forward in terms of its race politics just by talking about it and consulting with groups and really trying to achieve diversity rather than pay lip service or policies such as multiculturalism. Is there a willingness to do that? [00:07:00] Um, I hope so. I don't necessary, I think. Well, there's been recent discussion about multiculturalism again, it's been revived in Australia. But, um, I do hope that there will be greater attention paid to it, and certainly with the indigenous Australians. You know, now that there's talk about including them in the Constitution. And now that there is a campaign around recognising the kind of, you know the disparity in terms of life expectancy and the you know, um, employment prospects and all those kinds of things for indigenous Australians, hopefully we'll see greater [00:07:30] social, legislative and policy change around around race, um, based issues in Australia. If we were to scoot forward 30 years and you had to, um, impart some words to somebody listening in 30 years time, what would they be? Um, that these sorts of conferences are absolutely essential, and it's always best practise to invite people from different spectrums. Um, across the world, geographic context, religious context, gender, sexuality, race, um, to promote [00:08:00] dialogue. I mean effectively. That is the strength of of a community. Um, it's the ability to negotiate differences rather than erase them. And so I think in the future, if we develop mechanisms and you know whether that's a conference, whether that's a You know, a forum, whether that's just simply interpersonal communication between two people that validates and respects people's differences and brings them together in a conversation rather than seeks to put them in a hierarchy or to contest them against one another, I think that will be a fantastic improvement to where [00:08:30] we are now.
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