Courtney Act hosted an election forum which saw presentative from the Liberals, Labor and The Greens share their parties’ policies, alongside independent member for Wentworth Alegra Spender.
The candidates answered questions from prominent members of the LGBTIQA+ community in the live audience while people from across the country logged on online to follow the action.
The questions covered a wide range of topics from reaching Australia’s 2030 HIV goals, to healthcare, cost of living pressures and exemptions religious schools enjoy from discrimination laws.
Senator Andrew Bragg attended representing the Liberal party. The member for Brisbane Stephen Bates went along to share The Greens viewpoint, while Labor was represented by the member for the NSW seat of Jagajaga, Kate Thwaites.
Health
The first question came from ACT health worker Wayne Herbert. He praised the government’s delivery of a 10-year LGBTIQA+ health plan but noted that the strategy is only partially funded. He asked candidates if they would support the full funding of the plan and also asked what they would do not make sure it was implemented.
Labor Kate Twaites said she was very proud of the work the Albanese government had done in this space and highlighted that an additional $10million of funding had just been announced, and said Labor would make the plan “a reality” if reelected.
Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg said his party was committed to removing all forms of discrimination and praised Labor for their work on the recently announced plan. He said a Dutton government would also fund the plan.
“Whoever wins the election, this process is funded, and sometimes it’s important, particularly with sensitive, more sensitive matters, that you can recognize that the other party can do good things.” Bragg said. “I think Australians are looking for us to work together on issues where there, frankly, should never been any politics in the first place.”
The Greens Bates said that while the government had done great work in this area, he’d like to see the plan for LGBTIQA+ health go further.
“I would have rather it didn’t take the whole term for it to come out, of course, but it’s excellent that they’ve been able to make this progress that they have done.” Bates said.
He called for the government to include more information on how they planned to achieve the outcomes listed in the plan, while noting there was much more that could be done in the areas of IVF access, removing gay blood-bans, and access to Medicare for gender reassignment procedures.
Alegra Spender spoke about the need for more support for mental health, better programs to tackle domestic violence and said more work was needed to break down barriers between people who were transgender and general healthcare.
“I see my role here is to hold the government to account, whatever government that is, to make sure that this plan is delivered.” Spender said reflecting on her position as an independent.
Discrimination and hate
Lara Sabbadin, the Co-chair of Rainbow Families Australia drew attention to the rising number of protests around the country that have targeted transgender people, and queer people with families. She described the terrifying experience of being targeted by online hate groups and asked what each of the speakers personally did to stand up to hate speech?
The Greens Stephen Bates shared his own experience saying that since he’d become an MP he’d stopped using the social media platform X.
“Every time I posted something, I got called a pedophile by countless people in the comments, and I’m sure lots of people have horrific experiences like that.” Bates said.
He said his party supported an LGBTIQA+ Commissioner being established at the Australian Human Rights Commission. He also said it was essential that people in positions of power stood up when discrimination occurred, citing The Greens lobbying of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over his decision to remove sexuality and gender questions from the 2026 census.
Alegra Spender The member for Wentworth spoke about the importance of allyship with the LGBTIQA+ communities but said there was also clearly space for law reform.
“No one in our community, whatever your sexuality, religion, it doesn’t matter. You should not be subjected to hate. And in one of the most diverse and successfully diverse countries in this world we can’t let people breed hate.” Spender said.
Labor Kate Thwaites said it was essential that US style politics were not imported into Australia.
“Australia is a country that is tolerant and is inclusive, and that is something that a Labor Government will always stand up for. We do not want US style policies here.”
Thwaites highlighted recent laws passed by the Albanese government but also noted that they were working with Equality Australia to establish a national database of hate crime incidents.
“I think that is an important part of the puzzle, so that we also understand what is going on, and we have a record on that that does help us as lawmakers and to respond in the right way.”
Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg was asked if a Dutton government would support a national hate crime register, he said it was something they would definitely consider, noting that Jewish groups had made similar calls.
HIV and the 2030 goals
Stephen Spencer, the Vice President of the National Association of People Living with HIV asked what each party or candidate would do to achieve the goal of virtual elimination of HIV transmission by 2030, and also what actions they would take to address HIV stigma and discrimination.
Labor Kate Thwaites highlighted the significant funding the Labor government has made towards the 2030 goals and the establishment of a national HIV taskforce. The member of Jagajaga also noted that Health Minister Mark Butler had successfully dealt with the challenges of short supplies of PrEP treatments in 2024. Twaites said the support for the 2030 goals was guaranteed but it could only be achieved with community collaboration.
Liberal Senator Bragg said there had been a 40-year bipartisan approach to HIV that would continue regardless of which party won government.
“It’s very important that we maintain that bipartisan ethos here, because Australia on the fight against HIV/AIDS was a world leader.” Bragg said.
Alegra Spender The independent MP said her electorate had traditionally been in the centre of the fight against HIV, and the best practices had always come from listening to the experience of people affected by the virus. Spender said more than achieving the 2030 goals in Australia, there was an opportunity for the country to be a world leader in the space.
The Greens Stephen Bates announced The Greens policy is putting PrEP and PEP treatment as a fully funded medication on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
“Something we need to be doing is making sure that people have access to the health care they need when they need it and making sure that it’s affordable.” he said.
Bates said with US President Donald Trump withdrawing so much funding from HIV prevention programs around the globe Australia should also consider how we can assist other nations.
Intersex rights
Intersex rights advocate Margie McCumstie delivered an emotional plea to the panelists to take action on how intersex children are medically treated.
“I am an intersex woman. I was assigned female at birth and have always lived my life as a female, although I have XY chromosomes, like many intersex people, surgery was performed on me without my informed consent to fix me. I did not need fixing.” McCumstie said, asking what the different parties would do to protect bodily autonomy of intersex people.
Liberal Andrew Bragg said he fully supported people making their own decision in life, and while it was largely a state government issue, he was open-minded about potential law reform.
Alegra Spender The MP said she’d been learning a lot about the needs of intersex people recently, and believed the federal government could play a leadership role in promoting change.
The Greens Stephen Bates said it was a really important issue, but it was clear there was a lack of knowledge about the topic among politicians.
“I think that this is an area that doesn’t get talked about a lot in the political sphere, and I think that’s because of a lack of knowledge and a fear of messing things up” Bates said.
He noted his party had signed The Darlington Statement supporting intersex rights and said he supported more information and counselling being available to parents when they are informed of their child’s intersex condition.
Labor Kate Thwaites highlighted that it was a Labor government who amended the Sex Discrimination Act in 2013 to provide more protections for people who are intersex. She said there was a lot more work to be done, and community collaboration would be essential.
“I think there’s more work to be done in this space, and we need to do it with community, to make sure that you are entering into a health system that is inclusive, that doesn’t discriminate, and where you feel heard.” Thwaites said.
Education and Discrimination
Teacher Karen Pack spoke about being fired from her teaching position at a religious based when her employers became aware that she’d married her wife.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison famously said he’d fix the problem of students being expelled – saying a solution could be reached in just a fortnight. The Liberal leader made the promise back in 2018.
Karen Pack asked, “What is it that you or your party will do to prevent queer people from being fired, expelled or discriminated against by religious schools?”
Alegra Spender The MP shared that she’d recently heard from a transgender student who was not expelled from their school but effectively pushed out by the school’s administration.
Spender said she had written to both the Attorney General and the Shadow Attorney General about the issue and said most people she encountered were shocked to find this type of discrimination was still legal in Australia. Spender said law reform was needed at a federal level, but also at a state level – noting the NSW has one of the worst laws in this area on a state level.
The Greens Stephen Bates said removing the current exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act was the party’s policy, and it was an issue that he’s been campaigning for since he joined the parliament. Bates said law reform was desperately needed and both major parties needed to take a leadership role on bringing about change.
“We can’t live our lives on the fear that the far right might get unhappy at us. We’ve all managed to survive through our lives despite that so far.” Bates said.
Liberal Senator Bragg said the Morrison government’s attempt to fix the laws had been a “bad attempt” to address the issue and he was glad it came to a sudden stop because it could have made the situation worse. Senator Bragg had threatened to cross the floor over the issue.
“I think the principle, in my mind has always been, that if a religious institution wants to be a religious institution, it should be allowed to be, and it should be able to teach in accordance with its ethos, and should be able to hire people that are going to teach in accordance with its ethos.
“But it shouldn’t be able to discriminate based on personal attributes, and that’s what we’ve seen here in your case, and that’s what needs to be fixed.” Senator Bragg said. He said it was disapointing that Labor had abandoned it’s proposed Religious Discrimination legislation.
Labor Kate Thwaites said the government had done substantial work on this issue, despite no legislation reaching the parliament.
“This is something that Labor has tried to work on in this term of Parliament, and as we’ve done that work, there are two things that we have decided are really important, and the first of those is that we do not want an incredibly divisive, hateful debate.” she said.
Thwaites said the second issue one of bipartisanship, saying that without the support of the Coalition there was no option to bring the legislation forward.
“We didn’t want to go through all of that and then have a future government, Liberal government, just unwind it. Now. We were in the situation where the Liberal Party would not engage with us on these laws, so we could not find a way forward on them. And that is really hard.”
Host Courtney Act questioned Twaites claim that the laws could not be introduced because of a lack of Liberal support, to which Thwaites said at the forefront of the government’s consideration was the debate being weaponised.
Gender affirming care and Transgender health
Prominent transgender health researcher Teddy Cook noted all of the panelists had spoken about protecting members of the LGBTIQA+ community before asking, “I’m particularly curious to know what you and your party will do to support trans communities, and particularly including protections, but also access to gender affirming care?”
Liberal Senator Bragg said he didn’t believe that a parliamentary inquiry into the medical care and lives of people who are transgender would be beneficial, and that’s why he’d consistently voted against the many proposals from Senator Pauline Hanson.
Bragg said the review commissioned by Health Minister Mark Butler was something he supported, and he awaits the outcome of that. He also said his personal opinion on transgender women playing sport was that the sporting organizations themselves were working through this and it did not need government action.
Host Courtney Act noted that an election questionnaire completed by the Liberal party for the Australian Christian Lobby had a declarative statement against transgender women playing competitive sport in women’s spaces.
The Greens Stephen Bates said the Greens support gender affirming care being covered by Medicare.
“I think that’s something that is that is long overdue. It’s about making sure people have universal access to health care as a core principle, and we do that by expanding what we put into the Medicare system so that people can access the health care they need when they need it and making sure that it’s affordable.”
Bates said the Queensland government’s approach to reviewing the healthcare of young people who are transgender was “very disturbing and disappointing.”
Labor Kate Thwaites said the government would be guided by the evidence, and that’s what Heath Minister Mark Butler had commissioned a review.
“We will not be using some of the most vulnerable young people in our community as political footballs/ That is just unacceptable, that is not the country, that is not Australia, that is not how we treat vulnerable people in our community.” Thwaites declared.
Alegra Spender The independent MP said decisions had to be driven by doctors and medicine, not the Australian senate. Spender said while Senator Bragg had taken a very principled approach on the issue, many of his colleagues had not.
“Unfortunately, 18 of the 30 coalition senators didn’t agree with you and supported Pauline Hanson/” Spender argued.
Spender said parliamentarians needed to be focused on the health care for transgender people, not giving a space for hate and culture wars.
