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Paddy O'Toole

Former Minister for Children, Disability and Equality

Jun 11, 2026

5:54
How much of that was a factor in your approach to just having a family?
6:01
I think in our household, we always have had progressive politics and discussions about politics are a big feature of our household.
6:14
But honestly, Gemma as a teenager was very interested in and passionate about the gay marriage debate because she was a gay girl at that stage and she wrote a great song about it and it blew up a little bit on Bandcamp and so we were impressed by that conversation degree of commitment to that cause.
6:42
And when she was studying at the University of Melbourne and was participating in the pro-Palestine movement and the encampment happened, and then she took the University of Melbourne off to the privacy commissioner because they were using their Wi-Fi to track the students and she won that case.
6:59
She was, I think, starting to sense her power.
7:03
Gemma's activism and power is something that really is next level.
7:07
I have to admit, I really didn't want her to go.
11:12
And I think that's really sad and I think that's part of the reason why I decided to stand up in that.

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