The Liberal candidate for the seat of Bean in the ACT has voiced his opinions about transgender people participating in competitive sport, his opposition to gender neutral toilets and his thoughts on Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremonies.
Speaking to The Canberra Times, the aspiring politician who is a veteran, said he likes to see an acknowledgement of people who have served in the military at the start of formal gatherings and events, but said that didn’t mean he didn’t have respect for Indigenous Australians.
“This country is sick of this sort of – what’s the word? – this virtue signaling around this,” Lamerton told his local newspaper.
Lamerton said as someone who had severed his country in two different uniforms, he and had a long history in the military he was “very much against getting welcomed” to his “own country”.
The candidate said he wouldn’t be one to participate in “culture wars” but he had many concerns about gender neutral bathrooms, transgender women participating in sport, and the medical treatment of children who experience gender dysphoria.
“My position very firmly on this is if you can’t vote, for instance, and you are not classified as an adult, then how on earth are you meant to make decisions that affect your entire life from that point forward?” he said.
Lamerton said the treatments used under the current methodology had the effect of “deliberately messing up your biology”.
The Division of Bean is currently held by Labor’s David Smith who has been the seat’s only representative since it was created ahead of the 2019 election. Smith was previously briefly a member of the senate replacing Senator Katy Gallagher in 2018 when she was disqualified over dual citizenship. Bean is one of three seats in the Australian Captial Territory.
