Sydney Life

My heat for the USU Justice Michael Kirby Plain Speaking Competition was last Friday. And, I got through to the next round! Woohoo! Here's a recount...

I always fumble in impromptu speeches. I can talk my head off to friends, but put me in front of a room with a time limit to speak on a topic that I've had a mere 5 minutes to prepare for... and I fumble and stumble through. The topic was "Survival Strategies" and I decided to tackle the topic of WorkChoices, Labor's proposed reforms and whether the Coalition had any survival strategies in light of overwhelming public distrust of the reforms.

With the prepared speech, I think I did much better. My topic was "All you need is love", and I took it in a distinctive bent. I spoke on the recognition of same-sex relationships by federal law.

I first spoke about Australia's federal record on relationship recognition. Our federal government has:

... bucked the trend of many other Western countries - and all of Australia's own states and territories - by refusing to recognise same-sex couples in over 60 pieces of discriminating federal legislation which define loving relations on purely heterosexual terms.

I spoke about the need for leadership from all major parties on the issue, particularly in light of significant public support:

On the issue of same-sex relationship recognition, all you need is love in our federal political sphere. A politics of love. A politics based not on partisanship, but principles that aim beyond boganism, swinging voters and pampering prejudice. A politics not based on fear, but the courage to be fearless.

[...]

In a Newspoll conducted last year, 52% of the Australian public said they supported laws to formally recognise same-sex relationships. A far cry from a mere twenty-three years ago when consensual sexual acts between males were criminal in NSW. [...] Overseas experience shows, that when informed public debate is allowed to happen on gay marriage and other recognition avenues, support in the general public grows. The call for equality is increasingly convincing to Australians from all political backgrounds.