Rainbow Families has asked Labor, the LNP and the Greens where they stand on issues that are important to our community. We will provide their responses in our newsletter, website and social media when they are available to help guide your voting decision.
Our questions to the parties were based on the recommendations of our 2018 Love (Still) Makes a Family report. The report drew on the experiences of families in our community in accessing services provided or funded by the Australian government. There is still work to be done in addressing the issues raised in the report.
If you have Independent candidates standing for election in your area, you may find our questions below useful when talking to them.
Questions
- If elected to government, what plans do you have to address Australia’s inconsistent approach to legal parentage, adoption and fostering, assisted reproductive medicine, altruistic and commercial surrogacy and gamete donation?
- What plans do you have for the development of a nationally consistent approach to surrogacy?
- What plans do you have to review state and territory fostering and adoption laws to make them nationally consistent?
- What plans to you have to introduce family diversity and inclusivity training for all frontline staff working in Australian Government agencies in order to recognise the diversity of families?
- If elected to government, will you cease sending LGBTQ+ asylum seekers to countries where people can be imprisoned for consensual same-sex sexual activity?
- What plans do you have to review all federal government forms to ensure that they are inclusive of LGBTQ+ people and our families?
- Do you have plans to review Centrelink processes to ensure that trans and gender diverse people are appropriately recognised and not required to answer intrusive questions or use names and/or pronouns that do not relate to their affirmed identity?
- Do you have any plans or policies to develop a program of inclusive practice for preschools, early childhood education centres and long day care centres around family diversity?
- What plans do you have to review the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) with a view to removing exemptions that allow for discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and our families – particularly in the case of publicly funded organisations?
- What plans do you have to include LGBTQ+-inclusive sex and relationship education in the Australian Curriculum?
- What plans do you have to ensure that Medicare rebates for IVF are made available for families using surrogacy?
- What plans do you have to ensure that more general medical, mental health and specialist medical services are made available for trans and gender diverse people available in regional and rural areas?
- What plans do you have to make accessing parental leave easier for LGBTQ+ parents, especially for parents who have not given birth
You might also find these resources helpful:
Equality Australia’s Rainbow Votes: LGBTIQ+ Voters and the 2022 Australian Election