STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr WILKIE (Clark) (13:33): Recently, the federal government announced $8.1 million in project grants under the LGBTIQA+ Health Program. While increased funding to promote the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ Australians is clearly welcome, missing from this round were any grants to projects based in my home state of Tasmania, which is mind-boggling when Tasmania has the highest rate of LGBTIQA+ mental health risk and suicide ideation in the country, high rates of housing and income insecurity and the most recent legacy of criminalisation.

These factors alone should ensure Tasmania remains a priority not only based on equitable distribution but because the need is there. To add salt to the wound, this comes as the state government continues to scale back many vital community services to fund its stadium vanity project. Yes, I acknowledge that some national projects were funded in this grant round, but their per capita spend in Tasmania will be very little, and this leaves LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians at a disadvantage.

Remember, these Tasmanians matter just as much as those on the mainland, and they shouldn't be overlooked and forgotten. So I call on the government to review the funding and to ensure that this and future rounds are instead truly national and support projects and people in every Australian state and territory.