The largest LGBTQIA+ festival Australia has ever seen is underway. Sydney WorldPride 2023, the first WorldPride festival ever held in the Southern Hemisphere, runs for more than two weeks and includes the annual Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday.
Organisers says half a million participants are expected at more than 300 events making it one of the biggest gatherings in the city since the 2000 Olympic Games.
On the same day the festival started, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released an international report on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices in the insurance industry.
The report, by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), is a stock take of DEI work being undertaken globally by insurance supervisors and the insurance industry.
Daniel Berry (pictured above), partner and insurance broker with Dudgeon Berry Insurance Group is attending WorldPride in Sydney. The Lismore-based broker agreed to take a look at the IAIS report for Insurance Business.
“I think there’s definitely a lot of positivity in there,” said Berry. “I think some of the statistics that they talk about show that, globally, more than half of supervisors in the insurance industry have a desire to improve on DEI areas so I think that’s a positive thing.”
One aspect of the report that caught Berry’s attention was the discussion of a possible best practice standard for DEI across the industry globally.
“Probably the most interesting thing that I found in there was referring to the challenges the supervisors saw and the most common response, I think it was about 60%, indicated there was an absence of agreed standards or best practice,” he said. “There was a sense of a desire to adopt a best practice and to seek responses from the industry generally to move forward on that.”
The broker has worked in the insurance industry for two decades. During that time he’s noticed considerable change in terms of how the sector handles DEI issues.
“Over the last five to 10 years there appears to have been a lot of change,” he said. “I think when I first started in the industry it was a lot different - so I think, from that standpoint, there’s definitely change and I think that’s a good thing.”
However, Berry said, when he thinks about some areas of the insurance industry, he still “struggles to see where I fit in, particularly when you’re looking at management positions.”
IB suggested that his experience working as part of a family brokerage may have allowed him to personally avoid some of the negative DEI issues in the industry.
“Exactly,” he said. “I might take a different view, perhaps, if I worked for one of the larger insurers.”
On Friday, Berry is heading to Sydney for WorldPride and spending the week there.
“It will involve a lot of catching up with friends from all over the world,” he said. “I’m hoping to get along to the Human Rights Conference that they’re holding during the week.”
The conference is a three-day exploration of LGBTQIA+ human rights with keynote speakers, panels, interactive workshops and performances.
“This will be the largest convergence of human rights defenders, community members, government and political representatives, philanthropists and corporate leaders committed to LGBTQIA+ rights ever held in Asia-Pacific,” said a media release from Sydney WorldPride 2023.
IB asked Berry how he regards the evolution of Sydney’s Gay Mardi Gras from a protest march in the 1970s to today’s much broader, bigger and more inclusive event that’s enjoyed by tens of thousands of international visitors and locals, including families and children.
“I think it’s difficult for me to gauge because I wasn’t alive back in 1978 when they had the first Mardi Gras,” said Berry. “But I have a lot of respect for those people that came before.”
He said the marches that he’s taken part in have probably shared the current “fun” vibe. He sees the event as a time to get together.
“It’s definitely changed over the years,” said Berry.
He said Sydney WorldPride 23 is a “great thing for Australia.”
“It’s the first time that we’re hosting WorldPride,” he said. “So I think it’s going to be a great event.”
