Earlier, the Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, was asked on Insiders about a speech made by Pauline Hanson at this week’s CPAC summit in the UK, in which she said Australia’s stance on transgender rights was “stupid”.
In another speech at the conference, Bragg’s Coalition colleague, Bridget McKenzie, claimed that Australians were not being consulted on the issue.
Asked about Hanson’s comments, Bragg said, “I think we have to be sensible about these things”.
The reality is that if you want to have a free and fair society, then you don’t go out of your way to make life harder for people who are in a small minority. That’s always been my view that in public life, you should try and use whatever power you have to make life easier for people, not harder. Now, in terms of the trans community, it’s a small community, and I just don’t accept the view that Pauline Hanson expresses, that it’s some great risk to Australia. Where there have been issues, they should be addressed. But the idea that there’s a spectre of transgender people taking over Australia, I just think is insane.
The reality is that if you want to have a free and fair society, then you don’t go out of your way to make life harder for people who are in a small minority. That’s always been my view that in public life, you should try and use whatever power you have to make life easier for people, not harder.
Now, in terms of the trans community, it’s a small community, and I just don’t accept the view that Pauline Hanson expresses, that it’s some great risk to Australia. Where there have been issues, they should be addressed. But the idea that there’s a spectre of transgender people taking over Australia, I just think is insane.
