THE HON. MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
MELBOURNE
TUESDAY 23 APRIL 2019
SUBJECT: Ban on Gay Conversion Therapy; Adani; Murray-Darling Basin.
JOSH BURNS, CANDIDATE FOR MACNAMARA: I am very very pleased to be joined by our wonderful candidates here in Higgins and in Melbourne, Luke Creasey and Fiona McLeod, and of course Mark Dreyfus our Shadow Attorney General.
Today we are here to make a really important announcement and I'm really pleased to be doing it here in St Kilda because St Kilda is a place that celebrates people. It's a place each year where we have a Pride March, where we are going to be building a Pride Centre. It's a place that says whoever you are and whoever you love, it's completely fine and completely beautiful and we are so pleased to be here for this announcement.
MARK DREYFUS, SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I'm very pleased to be here with Josh Burns, our candidate for Macnamara, with Fiona McLeod, our candidate for Higgins, Luke Creasey, our candidate for Melbourne and also with Karen Douglas who's on our Senate Labor ticket. I'm here also with Simon Ruth, Ian Gould and Nick Henderson, leaders of the LGBTIQ Community and a range of other people from our LGBTIQ community. I cant think of a better place to make this announcement than here today at the Catani Botanic gardens which is of course where the Pride March finishes each year.
I'm announcing today that Labor will support a national ban on gay conversion therapy. We will work through COAG to make sure that this abhorrent practice, a practice that has been condemned by the AMA, a practice that is painful and with lasting mental health effects is banned forever in Australia.
This morning, Scott Morrison squibbed when asked about gay conversation therapy, in a shocking cop-out he said this is a matter for the states. Well, Scott Morrison, I'm here to tell you that that is not good enough. We need national leadership on this subject. National leadership involves the Commonwealth of Australia, the government that he is pretending to lead. The government taking that action to lead the States to do what Victoria has already done to make sure that every State puts on a ban on gay conversion therapy and make sure that the Commonwealth does what it can because the Commonwealth of course has got responsibilities in relation to health professionals, the Commonwealth has got responsibilities in relation to counsellors of various kinds, the Commonwealth has got the overriding responsibility in relation to the health system. It's not good enough for Mr Morrison to squib it. It's not good enough to say it's a matter for the states.
This is a test for Scott Morrison, he needs to actually work out whether he stands for a kinder, gentler Australia, an Australia that is kind to our LGBTIQ citizens, or an Australia in which they, according to some, need to be fixed.
There's a very clear choice there Scott Morrison, and it's time we stepped up and actually explained to Australians where he stands on this issue. It's time for him to accept that the Commonwealth should and will lead. That's where Labor stands. Labor's very clear about this, we will make sure that there is a national ban on this abhorrent practice of gay conversion therapy.
There's one other matter I want to raise and it also relates to Scott Morrison. Instead of spreading ridiculous conspiracy theories about death taxes which is what Mr Morrison's been engaged in in the last few days, he needs to actually say what his position is on death taxes. He is the only person in national politics who has refused to rule out considering death taxes. When he was Treasurer, in answer to a direct question from Neil Mitchell, he said he wouldn't rule out - it was a direct question about death taxes - Scott Morrison said he wouldn't rule in or rule out anything.
Well, it's time, were in an election campaign, it's time for Scott Morrison to rule out the consideration of death taxes. It's time for him to stop with the ridiculous conspiracy theories that he's been spreading about other political parties and death taxes.
Now Id like to hand to Luke Creasey, our candidate for Melbourne.
LUKE CREASEY: CANDIDATE FOR MELBOURNE: Thank you Mark, good morning. My names Luke Creasey, I'm the Labor candidate for Melbourne and it's great to be here with Mark Dreyfus, our Shadow Attorney-General and our candidate for Macnamara, Josh Burns, and with our candidate for Higgins, Fiona McLeod. Were here at the Catani Gardens, an iconic site for the LGBTIQ community, we end our Pride March here every year.
It's iconic because we march for pride each year and we march for pride because too often those of us from the LGBTIQ community are steeped in shame. And, it has gone on for too long that these barbaric practices of so called gay conversion therapy are used to treat LGBTIQ people like they are broken and like they are unwell. We know that LGBTIQ Australians need to be supported, need to be cared for, and need to be extended empathy and respect. And that's what this announcement today is all about. Were here to say that Labor stands with LGBTIQ Australians and their families. I'm going to hand over to Fiona McLeod, our candidate for Higgins.
FIONA McLEOD: CANDIDATE FOR HIGGINS: Thanks very much Luke and good morning everyone it's fabulous to be here with Mark the Shadow Attorney-General, I've known Mark a very long time and I know he will be a champion for equality and fairness for all Australians.
Great also to be here with Luke and Josh and the leaders of our LGBTIQ community. Higgins is a wonderful and diverse electorate, we support diversity and inclusion in Higgins in a way that supports all of our community. We embrace the diversity of our community and we need to do so much more to include those people in everything they stand for and protect their human rights.
It's fabulous to be here to announce this raft of changes here this morning. I was in Parliament House when the marriage equality bills passed. I was there assisting backbenchers across the aisle to realise what we need to do to support our LGBTIQ community in so many ways and it was a wonderful moment where the community and the whole Parliament House lit up in celebration of what we had achieved. The work that's been done by that community in restoring and protecting the rights of individuals in remarkable and I pay tribute to them, and as I said, there is so much more to do.
It has been my life's work to protect the vulnerable. We need to do so much more to protect our partners, our friends and our kids that have been ostracised too long and are vulnerable, so I'm very pleased to be joining this morning and to support them going forward. Thank you.
DREYFUS: Are there any questions?
JOURNALIST: Why don't you think this is an issue for the states?
DREYFUS: It's a national issue, and like so many other issues that are dealt with before COAG, this too needs to be led by the Commonwealth of Australia. It's simply not right for Mr Morrison to cop out and say it's a matter for the States. This is a matter on which the Commonwealth can and should lead. Some of the aspects of dealing with gay conversion therapy are exactly national issues, others are state issues, that's why it needs to be dealt with through COAG and led by the Commonwealth.
JOURNALIST: What avenues if any does the Commonwealth have to enforce ban on gay conversion therapy?
DREYFUS: It's the same kind of issue of any other national matter for regulation. National regulation of the legal profession would be an example where the states have to legislate in order for a national scheme to come into existence. Were calling on Scott Morrison to follow the lead that's already been set by Victoria, to join with Labor to make sure this is a national project and that there is in fact a national ban on gay conversion therapy. One state cant help by itself, it has to be led by the national government and Mr Morrison need to step up and take that position .
JOURNALIST: Would Labor call a specific COAG meeting to deal with this issue?
DREYFUS: Were planning to have an early COAG and I'm certain that, that is if we are elected to office, and Im certain this is a matter that can actually be placed on the agenda
JOURNALIST: Just on death taxes, the number two Labor Senate candidate made a speech supporting death taxes. How can we believe Labor doesn't support that tax?
DREYFUS: Absolutely and simply, Labor has ruled out death taxes, full stop. That is the end of the matter. My call is on Scott Morrison to explain what he wants to do. His position is that he wasn't prepared to rule out death taxes when he was asked a direct question by Neil Mitchell when he was Treasurer. It's time that he stop spreading ridiculous conspiracy theories about other parties and actually rule out his support for death taxes.
JOURNALIST: Would Labor review the decision to approve the Adani coal mine, are there any questions to be asked over the way Melissa Price approved it?
DREYFUS: As Tony Burke, our spokesperson on environment matters said, it's absolutely impossible to understand how the Environment Minister Melissa Price reached her decision, but the position that Labor takes is we will act in accordance with the law, that has always been our position, it remains our position.
JOURNALIST: Does Labor support a Royal Commission into Watergate?
DREYFUS: Watergate, as it's been dubbed, is an extraordinary potential scandal. The hysterical rantings as we saw, or heard last night on radio of the former Water Minister Barnaby Joyce was simply an attempt to deflect attention from what happened while he was the Minister, an attempt to deflect attention from the tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers money that may well have been wasted on buying back water that's never going to appear, including paying tens of millions of dollars to a company based in the Cayman Islands. It's time for the government to actually make sure that all the details of this - what was paid, to whom it was paid, which companies it was paid to, and what water was actually bought is made clear because only then will the Australian public be able to judge for themselves whether or not, as it appears, there some dreadful scandal or taxpayers money has been properly spent. It's much too soon to work out exactly what course of action needs to be followed. But it is already too late, long too late for the government to have concealed the details and not to have made clear what happened.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
DREYFUS: That's a ridiculous statement by the former Water Minister, but it's consistent with his attempt to pretend that he wasn't the responsible minister. Were seeing this repeatedly from this Coalition Government where whenever anything scandalous appears, whenever anything goes wrong, when anything is unable to be explained they say well, I didn't actually get all the details. We saw this from Peter Dutton over the spending of $423 million of Commonwealth money, taxpayers money on a contract with a company whose headquarters was a beach shack on Kangaroo Island. What Mr Dutton said then was I had no sight of that. Were seeing a bit similar from Barnaby Joyce he was the responsible Water Minister and our system of government requires that ministers be responsible for the decisions that are taken, the decisions that they sign off on. He actually signed away tens of millions of dollars of Commonwealth money and it's time that he actually accepted that he is responsible for it and indeed the rest of the government needs to accept that they are responsible for it too.
DREYFUS: Thanks very much.
ENDS
