A retiring senator has launched an inspiring defence of transgender people, saying Australians "must not be passive in the face of injustice or indifference".
Labor senator Louise Pratt has used her career to fight strongly to end discrimination against the LGBTQI community and was a key campaigner and advocate for same-sex marriage.
"I was so proud to walk along in that path, alongside so many Australians who demanded fairness and dignity," she said in her valedictory speech in the Senate on Wednesday as she thanked her wife Bec for supporting her on the journey.
"I hope that my time in this place has shown young, queer, LGBTIQ Australians that there is a place for them in politics and in shaping our country's future."
The West Australian added she was proud to be part of changing laws in her state to allow for greater access to IVF for single and lesbian women in 2001.
"Without that change, I would never have had the privilege, Jasper, of being your mother, because you simply wouldn't exist," she said while looking up at her 10-year-old son in the Senate's public gallery.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who vociferously campaigned alongside Senator Pratt for marriage equality, said she was an activist politician who had always pushed for change.
"Louise Pratt was at the vanguard of that advocacy for equality," she told the chamber.
"It was a hard history, it was politically hard ... and it was really hard personally for us, because it was about our families.
"Louise was one of the torch bearers for a long time, at times that was lonely and she kept the flame alight for many years."
Senator Pratt also launched a strong defence of transgender people, saying attacks against them "undermined the human rights of all".
The comments come as billionaire Clive Palmer launches an advertising campaign mimicking rhetoric from the Trump administration about there only being two genders.
"Transgender Australians have been talked about in this place by some as if they are strangers to citizenship in their own nation," she said.
"These debates reinforce harmful stereotypes about how men and women should behave and exist in the world and this ultimately limits all of us.
"The policing of who's allowed to have a masculine or feminine attribute, it's a ridiculous debate that distracts from the real issues."
Senator Pratt was elected to the WA Legislative Council in 2001 before contesting the federal election in 2007.
She was elected for a term before losing her seat at the 2013 election but regained it in 2016.
