Marriage equality is the headline LGBTI issue in the 2010 federal election.

Unless they live in a cave, most Australians know that Labor under Julia Gillard is against it, the Coalition under Tony Abbott is very against it, and the Greens under Bob Brown support it.

But there are many other national issues of concern to LGBTI Australians where the boundaries between the parties are not so stark.

Some of these fall into areas where the Federal Government has primary responsibility.

For example, the Federal Government should be leading the way on better treatment of LGBTI people in the many aged care facilities it funds.

The problems faced by elderly LGBTI people, like invisibility and discrimination, have been highlighted by recent research. But the parties are yet to act on this research by developing comprehensive policies.

The Feds also have responsibility for foreign affairs, and should be advocating strongly and consistently at the UN and in other international forums against anti-LGBTI persecution. All parties have an existing commitment to this, but all could lift their game.

Then there are those areas where responsibility is shared between the Federal Government and state and territory governments but where the former is lagging way behind.

Some states now have policies and programs targeting homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools, but the Commonwealth’s educational initiatives have yet to follow suit.

Some states and territories now have committees through which different government departments formally liaise with the LGBTI community. The Commonwealth has no such consultative mechanisms.

All states and territories have laws comprehensively protecting LGBTI people from discrimination, but the Commonwealth has no such law despite years of lobbying by LGBTI human rights advocates.

There are those areas where the Federal Government should be leading by example

• It has a key role to play in setting standards for gathering national statistics on the problems still faced by LGBTI people, including hate crime.

• It has a responsibility to develop national strategies to tackle unacceptably high rates of self-harm among young LGBTI people.

• It should be leading the way on eliminating discrimination against transgender and intersex people, including in official documents like passports.

• It has the resources to fund research and programs that focus on solutions to all this violence, self-harm and discrimination.

The Australian Coalition for Equality has put together a 2010 election survey, which asks all the parties contesting the election detailed questions about all these issues and many more.

Once the party responses are in — hopefully by the end of the first week in August — we will be rating the parties’ responses to each issue and posting them on the internet.

This will enable all LGBTI Australians, and our friends, family members and supporters, to see exactly where the parties stand on the widest possible range of LGBTI issues.

The website address is www.movingforward.org.au

Please visit the site in the fortnight leading up to the election for information on where the parties stand on the issues facing LGBTI people in Australia today.

By Rodney Croome — Board Member of the Australian Coalition for Equality.