The Australian Parliament witnessed a tumultuous debate on Monday, exposing divisions within the Coalition over transgender healthcare and antisemitism. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's unsuccessful push for a parliamentary inquiry into the 'human cost of experimental child gender treatments' sparked controversy, with 18 Coalition senators siding with Hanson. Meanwhile, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus faced attempts to silence him while discussing antisemitism, leading to a heated exchange with Coalition leader Peter Dutton.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson made an unsuccessful push on Monday for a parliamentary inquiry into the 'human cost of experimental child gender treatments'. The motion calling for an inquiry into healthcare for transgender children, saying it was a “conscience vote” issue, despite a recent order to his caucus to avoid culture war topics.
The debate sparked controversy, highlighting divisions within the Coalition over the issue of transgender healthcare and the role of politics in sensitive social debates. This came as the nation's most senior Jewish politician, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, spoke about antisemitism in parliament on Monday. Dutton accused Dreyfus of a “slur” in saying that the Coalition was politicising antisemitism, which the attorney general strongly denied. \Dreyfus recounted his experiences visiting sites of Holocaust atrocities and witnessing antisemitic violence, stating, “I do not need the leader of the opposition or any of those opposite to tell me what antisemitism is or how seriously I should take it. You are disgusting.” The incident drew sharp criticism from Labor members, who condemned the Coalition's tactics as an attempt to silence a Jewish politician speaking about antisemitism. \On Monday night, 18 of the Coalition’s 30 senators sided with One Nation leader Hanson in a failed push for a parliamentary inquiry into the “human cost of experimental child gender treatments”. Frontbenchers Michaelia Cash, Bridget McKenzie, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Jonathon Duniam, Perin Davey and Kerrynne Liddle were among them. The wide-ranging terms of reference for Hanson’s proposed Senate inquiry included testimonies from individuals who had undergone treatment that used puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical interventions, and the experience of families who were “pressured, misled or denied” consent in their child’s treatment. The motion failed 21 votes to 36, with three moderate Liberal senators – Andrew Bragg, Maria Kovacic and Richard Colbeck – siding with Labor and crossbenchers to oppose. Other senior Coalition members Jane Hume and Anne Ruston were not present for the vote. A week before, the Nine newspapers reported Dutton telling the Coalition party room to focus election campaigning energy on the cost of living rather than wading into culture wars, and not be distracted by personal agendas. The Coalition is seeking to win back inner-city seats formerly held by moderate MPs but lost to ‘teal’ independents at the 2022 election, but some in the party believe a focus on conservative issues may make that battle harder. Last week on Sky News, Dutton backed moves to ban trans women from female sports, but called the issue “a very confronting debate” for families. On Tuesday, he did not resile from the fact that most of his Senate caucus, including some of his most senior ministers, had backed a One Nation motion on the issue. \“We’ve taken a position before that it’s a conscience vote in relation to that issue and that’s applied as it did in previous votes,” Dutton said. He did not take a follow-up question and ended his press conference shortly afterward. The issue was not discussed at Tuesday morning’s Coalition party room meeting, a spokesperson said. The health minister, Mark Butler, on Tuesday said: “Playing politics around the health and the lives, importantly, the mental health of some of Australia’s most vulnerable young people is frankly, an appalling thing to do.” Meanwhile, Dutton backed the decision of his newly appointed manager of parliamentary business, Michael Sukkar, to try to prevent Dreyfus from speaking about antisemitism on Monday
POLITICS TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE ANTISEMITISM COALITION DIVISIONS PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY PETER DUTTON MARK DREYFUS PAULINE HANSON
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