NSW Police to march in pride parade out of uniform
New South Wales police will now march in this weekend's Mardi Gras Parade in Sydney after organisers reached a compromise about their participation. The Mardi Gras board had earlier withdrawn an invitation for police to take part saying the LGBT community needed space to grieve the loss of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
Transcript
00:00 Well, the compromise basically is that New South Wales Police will take part in the march
00:05 on Saturday, but they won't be in uniform and they will be in a reduced capacity compared
00:10 to what was originally planned for their float.
00:13 Now this agreement has come as a result of organisers meeting with the Police Minister
00:18 Yasmin Catley and the Police Commissioner Karen Webb.
00:22 In a statement they've told us that this was a constructive discussion between the parties.
00:26 They said this weekend's parade is a beacon of hope, pride, celebration and inclusivity
00:31 and the outcome allows for liaison officers who volunteer their time and service to the
00:36 community to participate in the event in a considered and respectful way as we navigate
00:40 this tragedy together.
00:42 Now the Commissioner Karen Webb says she's delighted with this as an outcome.
00:46 She had expressed a level of disappointment in the move that came on Monday and she says
00:52 that she's very happy now that liaison officers and allies will be allowed to march as police
00:57 have done for the past 20 years.
00:59 In a statement Commissioner Webb said the Mardi Gras is a very important part of the
01:03 calendar for New South Wales Police and she's also made a commitment to continuing to strengthen
01:09 the relationship between New South Wales Police and the LGBT community.
01:13 So Commissioner Webb is obviously very happy with this as an outcome.
01:17 And there are many opinions on this including within the LGBT community.
01:22 Just take us through the arguments.
01:24 Yeah I think it's a really divisive issue even amongst organisers of the Mardi Gras
01:29 itself.
01:30 Earlier this week they put out a statement saying the community needed space to grieve
01:34 the loss of Jessie and Luke who before this tragedy would have been at the Mardi Gras
01:39 celebrating with us at the festival.
01:42 Now there was concern from organisers and other members of the LGBT community that the
01:48 presence of police in the parade might cause additional distress at a time when that community
01:53 is already reeling from the loss of Luke Davies and Jessie Baird.
01:58 But other members of the community have argued that excluding police would be a backwards
02:02 step because they've been participating for so long.
02:05 Everybody knows that there is a very fraught history between the LGBT community and New
02:09 South Wales Police.
02:11 But we heard some really prominent politicians coming out and saying that police should be
02:15 allowed to participate.
02:17 The Premier Chris Mins said there are a lot of gay and lesbian police officers who are
02:21 proud of their profession.
02:23 Obviously the police force is representative of the community.
02:26 And Sydney MP Alex Greenwich previously said that the community and police needed to work
02:31 together to make Sydney a safer place and that everybody needed to stand together and
02:36 that includes a time like at the Mardi Gras parade.
02:39 So again some really mixed opinions but there are a lot of people that seem quite pleased
02:44 with this reversal of the initial decision.
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