Gay entrepreneur quits

Julian Punch MR

Stephen Roach’s selling of his enterprises and departure from Penguin will send shock waves up the east coast of Australia and create a very bad image for Tasmania. There have been many ‘pink’ economic immigrants’ like Steven who sold their properties and enterprises to come and live and invest in tranquil and beautiful Tasmania’.


Press Release Coming Out Proud Program –
Julian Punch State Coordinator of the Coming Out Proud Program (COPP) said that ‘ Stephen Roach’s selling of his enterprises and departure from Penguin will send shock waves up the east coast of Australia and create a very bad image for Tasmania. There have been many ‘pink’ economic immigrants’ like Steven who sold their properties and enterprises to come and live and invest in tranquil and beautiful Tasmania’.

‘Pink immigrants’ fleeing the climate change heat and incessant pace of the ‘other island’ bring with them on average $400,000 – $700,000 in superannuation and savings alone – apart from their skill base and recurrent earning capacity, Mr Punch commented.

Julian Punch added that this seed of cash, this potential cultural harvest, can fall on rocky ground. Some immigrants like Steven are now returning to the mainland or their homelands overseas having experienced considerable opposition, homophobia, and sometimes violence in Tasmania.

Mr Punch commented that ‘the large influx of ‘rainbow immigrants’ like Stephen Roach from the eastern Australian seaboard in the last 10 years attracted by a ‘lifestyle sea change’ and lower property prices in rural and remote Tasmania effected a sea change of considerable proportions in challenging the old culture where sexual and gender diverse people knew their place as hidden and silent; if this did not appeal they could, and as many did, leave the State. This model is still particularly strident in many rural and regional areas of Tasmania, where an old, dominant homophobic culture reigns supreme and unopposed. Mr Punch commented that reports of violence and intimidation are being reported to the four regional Community Liaison Committees now on a regular basis.

Mr Punch praised the Cradle Coast Authority, which recently endorsed the Coming Out Proud Program and appointed a Liaison officer to its Community Liaison Committee, engaging nine councils on the North West/West Coast. The Authority was encouraged to do this by the homophobic furore that followed a business-planning proposition by the now well-known gay entrepreneur Stephen Roach at Penguin. Roach’s planning concept was met not only by the ‘fundamentalist sects’ discrimination and harassment but also by the pathetic action of nailing a dead wallaby to the doors of the very successful Penguin Markets set up by Roach and his partner.

Mr Punch praised similar moves by Councils around Tasmania supporting four regional Community Liaison Committees, providing for strategies that will enable gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in their localities and regions to live in their community with dignity, as fully-respected and participating members.

Julian Punch called on the State Government in this tenth anniversary year of Anti-Discrimination legislation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all Tasmanians especially those who are most at risk like the sexual and gender diverse community. Mr Punch said that conservative elements in the State Government had lost the early enthusiasm of the legislation changes to effect a ‘culture change respecting inclusion and human rights’ as essential to our way of life. Much more vigilance and proactive strategies are required by the Government to stamp out increasing incidents of threats and intimidation and to ensure our communities especially in regional areas are safe, secure and happy places for all to live in.

Julian Punch AM is State Coordinator of the Coming Out Proud Program.

You can make a difference by joining your local Community Liaison Committee. Check out the website for details, plus links to services and organisations across Tasmania: www.comingoutproud.org

Julian Punch AM