Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is here in Western Australia on the campaign trail, speaking today in Hilbert in support of the candidate for the new seat of Burt, Matt Keogh.
Much of Mr Shorten’s time has been occupied answering questions about the impending departure of incumbent Federal Western Australian MPs Alannah MacTiernan, Gary Grey and Melissa Parke, though today Mr Shorten was able to touch on Labor’s support for marriage equality and the Safe Schools Coalition while speaking at Hilbert’s Xavier Primary School.
“I do think the government needs to explain what it wants to do and why it wants to do it,” Mr Shorten said of the Turnbull government’s policies.
“Before Malcolm Turnbull became leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister, he was all for having a free vote in Parliament on marriage equality. Now, he wants to kick the issue of marriage equality down the road and cost taxpayers $160 million for a very divisive public debate that his own team won’t even be bound to.”
OUTinPerth asked Mr Shorten about the recent criticism of the Safe Schools Coalition from conservative groups and in the media. The Labor leader said he absolutely supports the Safe Schools program.
“I do not support increasing the chances of teenagers being bullied at school. Being a teenager in Australia is not easy, and certainly no parent of a teenager would think that life’s easy – I should know. What I also say is that we’ve got to make sure our kids go to school in a safe manner.”
Mr Shorten said that the Safe Schools Coalition should not be subject to right wing ideology, asserting that all children have a right to feel safe.
“I wish the right wing of the Liberal party would stop worrying about what’s going on in other people’s lives and focus on the economy. Focus on making sure our schools are properly funded. Focus on making sure that Medicare is not being undermined, that our hospitals aren’t in crisis.”
“Why is it that some of these social issues seem to preoccupy half of Mr Turnbull’s government more than unemployment, more than protecting the Australian steel industry more than schools, hospitals or climate change?”
Listen to the audio of Mr Shorten responding to our question.
Graeme Watson
The safe schools program is a joke confusing kids not helping them giving young kids access to pornagraphic material support groups running under Age work shops on sex toys and group sex introduced by groups involved in sex shops gay brothels etc this is child grooming at its best introduced by stealth and made out to be about bullying any one who supports this is a sick pedofile I will be taking my kids out of school ABSOLUTLY APALING SICK TWISTED JOKE