The last month or so didn’t seem to have any big announcements or elections here in Australia. However, there were still a few things happening that will probably develop in 2025 as we get closer to the federal election as well as a few significant administrative developments.

Greens pre-select a Trans candidate for Cooper

In the later part of 2024 the Greens surprised a few by pre-selecting trans women and public school teacher Tara Burnett. She faces an up hell battle since the seat of Cooper (formally Batman) has been part of the Labor only being lost twice in the last 118 years but if successful she would be Australia’s first Trans MP. The upcoming federal election is definitely expected to show a swing against Labor especially in Victoria where their is substantial dissatisfaction with the State government. So perhaps it might be the year for a few surprising results especially since more progressive voters that are disserting Labor will gravitate towards the Greens especially in Melbourne rather than put their faith in a Dutton lead Liberal Party.

The selection did not go unnoticed by conservative media which attempted to paint Burnett’s selection as the result of trans activism and militarism to get into government. Such nonsense is hardly surprising as they hardly want to touch on the real issues effecting the people of Cooper and the broader Melbourne community as she has clearly put housing affordability and rent as a key issue on her agenda as well as real action on climate change. In fact while Burnett is proud of her identity and hopes to make history she has only mentioned trans issues in response to direct questions and aims to position herself a representative for all of Cooper. We will have to wait and see what happens this year in the election but it would be an amazing sign of progress if Burnett is elected.

Blocking another loud mouth from Australia’s shores

Just like the decision to prevent KJK from making another trip down under to stir up trouble, plans for US far right commentator Candice Owens we’re similarly delt with. The immigration minister Tony Burke said it best when he announced the decision and concluded that “Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.” It was a decision that was backed by the coalition as well as Dan Tehan highlighted her ability to “undermine social cohesion.” This was definitely a win ahead of a 2025 election as we hardly some American nutter stiring up Anti semitism and other hate for minorities to influence the political discourse. The sad fact is that she definitely has fans here willing to pay good money to see Owen’s speak. No doubt thier disappointed, but I suspect they will find other means to try and get their views a bit more coverage.

The impact of the US election

The success of a convicted felon in the US election was definitely a new low. Making many of us in Australia question the sanity, education, and basic humanity of many Americans. However, it is perhaps not all that surprising to learn that during times of economic hardship, it is easy for hate and division to resonate with people, especially when it is backed up misinformation and the world’s richest man.

Obviously, in Australia, we are removed from the effects of the election result and don’t have to deal with the raft of anti-trans legislation and rhetoric that has gone to a whole new level since. However, many of us feel that the community that is now living in fear of the future, especially those like myself , has friends and followers in the States. The fact that so many are considering fleeing their country is pretty harrowing.

The Trump influence on Australia

It isn’t just this sinking feeling as we are helpless to really help our friends in the States that came out of the election as their calls for Trump like conservative campaign ahead of the 2025 election. It took Skynews Australia less than 24 hours to start publishing articles suggesting different things Liberal Leader Peter Dutton could learn and adopt from the Trump campaign. It is a truly horrifying thought. The fact that Dutton seems willing to road test some of this is especially alarming. Only a few days after the US Dutton, he was saying that when he sees “a government that is more interested in pronouns than they are people, it starts to become a real problem.” Perhaps the one thing that may save us from the worst of the rhetoric is that it has proven not to work in Australia. Highlighted by the monumental backlash against Katherine Deve’s last election. So, for this reason, Skynews has acknowledged that Dutton needs to be more subtle and less extreme, which is especially important if he wants to win seats in progressive areas like Melbourne. It is why he is definitely trying to distance the federal liberal part from any of the anti abortion discussions in Queensland.

However, it is worth noting that the Murdoch press (Sorry to say we released this evil onto the world) is not the only influence here but also Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart. After celebrating alongside Trump and Musk at Mar-a-lago on election night, Rinehart has commented publicly that she believes Trump will “bring more prosperity to the USA.” Now Rineheart doesn’t have the respect or following amongst the average Australian notably due to the way she has treated her children to be able to influence popular opinion like Musk. However, as a major employer and wealthy Australian, she still weilds a lot of influence and has a clear connection to the Liberal party having flown Dutton around in her private jet, which means she is able to get her tenticals into framing key election discussions that affect her interests. No doubt she will be pushing for deregulation, mining approvals, and is probably behind the discussion for nuclear power. The social attacks on minorities probably be the purview of Murdoch’s cronies, what joy.

A bit of give and take in Victoria

After the federal government failed to live up to their promises on hate speech and discrimination the Victorian State Government stepped up to the plate in November. They announced changes to existing hate speech laws to include protection for people with disability and in the LGBTIQA+ community. The change also aims to lower the threshold and make it easier to charge those that are spreading hate as since 2001 when the Racial and Religious tolerance Act was implemented has only seen a few convictions upheld since. Of course the change received a mixed response from religious groups whom welcomed the lower threshold as a means of better protecting those that practice different faiths however where concerned about the potential for ‘religious teaching being in competition with protected characteristics.’ The Christian Lobby specifically urged MPs to vote against the proposed changes out of concern for restricting religious freedom. The implementation of changes however aims to walk a fine line and allow religious leader’s to continuing their teachings as long as they do not incite hatred. Personally, when ever this ‘balance’ comes up it feel likes these leaders are too concerned about being able to teach certain things rather than considering the ethics of teaching something that could be considered hate speech or discriminatory, it seems like the golden rule which underpins most religions is pretty well forgot. Currently the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill 2024 has reached a second reading and will be under consideration once parliament returns in February. So hopefully next update I have some good news on this front.

Connected to maintaining ‘social cohesion’ the Labor government have also proposed changes to restrict protesting in Victoria. The new laws which include giving police more power and creating protest free zones near places of worship are a direct response to the Anti-Genocide or Pro-Palestinian protest that have been staged regularly throughout 2024. The perception is that these protests have created a raise in Antisemitism and led to the attack on the Adrass Israel Synagogue that rocked Melbourne in December. This is of course a knee jerk reaction and potentially political opportunism as their has been no link between the protests that have been going since October 2023 and the violent attack. The proposed laws which allow police to arrest people with face coverings, bans attachment devices and allows them to search people ‘suspected’ of carrying such a device is a significant escalation of police power. In addition, the idea of protest free zones near places of worship is problematic since popular locations for major demonstrations in Melbourne like Flinders’ Street station and the State Library of Victoria have churches nearby. Non of the protest held at these locations target these religious site and they are both used for their proximity to public transport, walking distance to each other and parliament as they are in a central location. However the classification and enforcement of such zones means that it is highly possible that these sites will become illegal protest sites. It is a concerning limitation of the right to free assembly

A National approach to LGBTIQA+ health care

Announce in 2023 at World Pride the Albanese Government committed to the development of a national action plan for the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ people however it is now a fact of life. The plan published in December recognises the current disparity between the LGBTIQA+ community and the general population with 31% of those that identify as an LGBTIQA+ person experiencing poor health compared 15%. This includes a recognition of the extremely poor mental health outcomes with 3 out 4 having contemplated suicide with in this is shown some understanding of factors effective LGBTIQA+ people including family environments and discrimination in the work place. However identifying the problem is only the start and the action plan articulates 5 primary goals:

Each one of these goals is broken down into a few main actions and attempt to address different area’s that contribute to the inequality in health care. These are a very diverse range of actions including things like improving national constancy, attempt to minimise social, cultural and economic harms, build capacities of services and minimise barriers to accessing care as well as many more. The plan doesn’t speak to much in the way of specific types of care (except for brief mention of HIV and substance abuse) which may be a little disconcerting for some members of the trans community since we have seen gender affirming care come under attack internationally in 2024. However the plan does have a clear commitment to improving research and especially listening to the LGBTIQA+ community which may offer some comfort, keeping in mind that a recent review of evidence in NSW concluded that gender affirming care was safe and beneficial contradicting the infamous Cass review. So there is no reason to be concerned by the absence of the Gender Affirming Care explicitly in the plan although it must be noted like any government framework it is broad and open ended.

Overall, this is a significant step as the issues effecting our community have been recognised and prioritised at a policy level. While it remains to be seen what specific actions take place and whether their will be any real or significant change to the experience of LGBTIQA people it creates a real sense of hope that things might get better. Especially, when other parts of the world seem to be trying to erase us this is a clear indicator that in Australia we are seen.

The ABS make an estimate of LGBTI+ Australians

December ended up being a significant month for administrative progress as shortly after the release of the National Action Plan the Australian Bureau of Statistics published their first estimates on LGBTI+ people. This is obviously likely to the formation of the national health plan with a clear emphasise of improving data and relying on the latest information from the ABS. As a result the estimate is based on 45, 000 people that responded to recent health surveys’ this suggest that 4.5% of the population over the age of 16 identity as LGBTI+ which is approximately 900 000 Australians while approximately 1% identify as trans or gender diverse. The estimates also include some interesting insights into the number of LGBTI+ people living in remote area as well as relationship status. Obviously this is still only an official estimate but it means for the first time we have federally recognised figures that can be used in addressing the aims of the National Action Plan on LGBTIQA+ health. It realistically is a temporary solution until the 2026 census with questions on gender and sexual orientation included for the first time however is a once again a clear sign of ongoing progress.

That defamation case

The verdict in the case between Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto and disgraced MP Moria Deeming over her involvement in the Let Women Speak rally which lead him to label her a Nazi was returned. Realistically it was always going to be tough to prove that Deeming is a Nazi or that she was directly affiliated with the Neo – Nazi’s that crashed the rally was always going to be a tough ask. The fact that Pesutto through around these labels in public statements and within the party room also made it impossible to really say that Deeming was completely responsible for any damage to her reputation was probably a bit laughable. If only he had just labelled her a transphobe that one would have been far easier to prove. So it probably wasn’t surprising that the court returned a verdict in her favour and awarded her $300 000 in damages.

Of course what this doesn’t validate Deeming’s views in anyway but rather recognises that Pesutto went too far saying she had links to specific groups based on their appearance at the rally. However the result of the case was always going to have bigger ramifications in the Victorian political landscape as it was embarrassing for both Pesutto and the Liberal party. It was therefore a forgone conclusion that their would be a Leadership challenge especially after Pesutto refused to step down. His hopes that a failed vote to readmit Deeming into the party would be the end of the issue was extremely optimistic especially since he cast the deciding vote. It was never going to be the end.

The uncertainty of a new leader

It didn’t talk long after the verdict for things to unravel for Pesutto and his opponents sized the opportunity to remove him with ex-cop Brad Battin being handed the leadership. Personally, I see this as a dangerous decision for the Liberals as despite the public battle with Deeming, John Pesutto had a positive image with voters as a moderate Liberal and had a good lead on Jacinta Allen as preferred Premier. However, this may have been part of his problem as he definitely was not popular with the more conservative elements of the party room. I hope the decision ends up coming back to scuttle their chances which is possible since Victoria and especially Melbourne have progressive values which really influence elections results. The fact the next State election is two years away does mean the party have time to distance themselves from the whole thing although the decision to readmit Deeming and the support she has from her colleagues will not actually help their chances.

Little is really know about Brad Battin’s values or politics beyond policing which could be a real turn off for some voters. However the fact that he has attempted to distance himself from Deeming’s views but is supportive of her right to voice them is a concern and definitely means that the conservative branch of the party will have more of a say going forward. He has tried quickly to focus discussion on a crack down on crime where his background gives him credibility and trying to hold the Allen government to account on spending. Yet, it really remains to be seen what his views are on a range of issues as simply promising to crack down on youth crime isn’t going to be enough and he can’t just rely on Melbournians to be tired of a Labor government.

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It seems like quite a bit happened in those last couple of months but realistically we are all holding our breath until Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls the election and then I am sure things will really get interesting. Stay up to date by subscribing as I aim to continue to provide a snap shot of the announcements, trends and comments that effect the LGBTIQA+ Community.

Read the October and September updates for 2024.