Homophobia ‘inherent in the political system’ says ex-MP
Rachel Cook
 A Liberal Party minister in the Federal Coalition has been the target of a ‘fact file’ which claims he regularly visits bath houses and harasses other men in political circles. The Government has blamed the Labor Party for circulating the story; however Labor maintains the source was a Liberal Party figure.
In a week of political backbiting, the ‘fact file’ is the latest in what some are calling a dirty tricks campaign in the lead-up to the election.
The Sunday Herald Sun ran an extract from the ‘fact file’ this week, which read in part, “Witness has seen him go to a bath house in Sydney on several occasions. Rumored that he is sleeping with one of his staff members in Canberra.”
The claims aired in the article has been linked back to the Liberal Party by prominent political journalist, Laurie Oakes, who News.com.au reported as saying, “I’m interested in this, you see, because I’ve been fed the same allegations about this minister, and they were fed to me by a Liberal. It’s one of those dog fights within the Liberal Party – and you get them in the Labor party too – people trying to feed muck around about their opponents within their own organisation. A couple of days later there was a follow-up call from someone else wanting to sort of give more detail, but there was no proof, it was just all allegations, and you hear that sort of thing all the time.”
There has been no comment by Prime Minster John Howard on the allegations; however the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Julia Gillard told the Nine Network, “I’ve never heard anyone in Labor refer to this supposed fact sheet.”
Gillard also reemphasized suggestions by Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd that the Liberal government is running a “dirt unit.”
Openly gay politician Brian Grieg (pictured), a former Democrat MP, sees homophobia as an inherent part of the political community and the ongoing double standards it perpetuates.
“There is a huge hypocrisy in Australian politics,” Grieg told MCV. “There are closeted MPs in both political parties and if their private lives are at odds with the political views, such as voting against gay marriage, then I think their hypocrisy should be exposed.”
“The Australian political culture is very immature and unsophisticated around this area,” he continued. “The Prime Minister says he won’t comment on the issue but he has no problem interfering in the private lives of gay people via legislation that directly affects our lives.”
Homophobia is still an issue within political circles and remains an effective way of discrediting a politician’s reputation.
A source in the Liberal party told MCV that, “the use of homophobia in an attempt to lie about and smear public figures for political gain is sad, pathetic and something from the dark ages. Positive politics will always win. Life goes on.”
Meanwhile in the UK a labor party councilor has been barred from public office for three years and fined 1000 pounds for making false allegations of pedophilia against her gay opponent. She was also ordered to pay ₤3000 towards prosecution costs.
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