Crossbench MP, Dr Brian Walker, says the Cook Labor Government is taking “far too long” to enact its repeated promises on LGBTIQA+ law reform.
Dr Walker, re-elected last year for the Legalise Cannabis Party, said “enough was enough” and described the delay as “unacceptable.”
The call for action comes as the Labor government gets ready to mark the eighth anniversary of returning to power under then leader Mark McGowan.
Many of the reforms that the government has not acted on were promised while they were in opposition.
“Labor has been promising to end discrimination against LGBTIQA+ teachers and students in faith schools for ten years, and still hasn’t drafted legislation.
“The government also promised to outlaw LGBTIQA+ hate speech, and haven’t done it despite increasing examples of hate motivated violence against the queer community, and the recent failure of the federal government to address it nationally.
“Two week ago the Minns Labor Government in NSW announced new laws to combat LGBTIQA+ hate crimes, but here in WA we don’t even have protections for LGBTIQA+ hate speech, let alone acts of motivated violence.
“Conversion practices are still legal in WA, despite most other states having banned it as dangerous and harmful. This makes WA a sanctuary state for offenders.
“These endless promises of reform have dragged on since the McGowan period, and are now exposed as a cruel hoax. It’s clear the government has to be pushed on these. Change won’t simply arrive through benevolence, there must be a campaign of protest to force it.”
Dr Walker said he has started drafting two Private Member Bills to advance law reform.
“The first is to prohibit LGBTIQA+ hate speech and vilification. I am basing this on the Tasmanian model which is the best in the country and been in place since 1998. I also note that the Tasmanian hate speech law was recently updated and strengthened by that state’s Liberal Government.
“The second Bill is to end discrimination in faith-based schools and services.
“The broad religious exemptions can be swept away with the stroke of a pen. It’s just a question of repealing Section 73(3) of the WA Equal Opportunity Act to remove the special privileges for church groups. This would bring WA into line with Tasmania, where such a law has also been in place for more than a quarter of a century.
“In Tasmania, no religious organisation, including faith schools, charities, aged care and so forth, can claim a ‘special religious exemption’ to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status in the hiring, firing and service provision of its operations.
Dr Walker said he is writing to Attorney General, Toni Buti, to seek a briefing on the state of the WA government’s LGBTIQA+ Bills and a timeframe for full implementation.
“Notwithstanding this, I intend to progress with my own Private Member’s Bills on these topics. The government must support them, vote them down or advance their own Bills quickly,” he said.
Dr Walker said the best bans on conversion practices were in Victoria, the ACT and NSW – and that the fundamentals of each can easily be copied for a WA Bill.
“Overdue reforms must also bring trans and gender diverse people under the full protection of the Equal Opportunity Act, and banning non-consenting surgery on people who are intersex. I will explore Bills to address these topics as well while the government fails to act.
Dr Walker said many excellent submissions to the Law Reform Commission inquiry from 2018 and its final recommendations three years later, pointed the right way forward.
“We must get on with this and stop the bullshit,” he said.
Last month Attorney General Tony Buti said the government would begin work on reforming the state’s Equal Opportunity Laws “very soon”.
