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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-08-20 Daily Xml
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Violence Against LGBTIQA+ Australians

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:49): I am concerned about reports of rising violence directed at LGBTI Australians. It is unfortunate that I must raise this issue today because I would rather be speaking about the 50th anniversary of the South Australian parliament's decriminalisation of homosexuality. It was a landmark decision that ended the criminalisation of homosexual men, even as brutal gay bashings and targeted murders of gay men in our country continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 2020s, that same hatred has risen again, but it has taken on some new forms. Across the country, gay, bisexual and same-sex attracted men are being lured into orchestrated attacks through fake dating profiles. The perpetrators are often teenagers. They are setting traps and planning assaults, systematically, on these men.

In Perth, one man was beaten, tasered, stripped and forced at knifepoint to make a false confession on video. His naked photographs were then circulated on social media. In Melbourne, another man who was attacked wondered if he would actually make it out alive after losing so much blood that he was facing intensive care treatment. Other victims describe being chased into traffic, beaten unconscious and left with broken bones. Victoria Police have arrested more than 35 people in connection with these crimes. In Western Australia, five teenagers were sentenced after a series of attacks that saw men stripped, tasered and beaten with metal bars. These prosecutions show that the problem is real and growing.

What troubles me most is the number of victims who never come forward. New South Wales Police say that many of these crimes go unreported. This silence is not a reflection of weakness in victims, it is a symptom of the system that still does not feel safe for them to utilise. According to Victorian Pride Lobby, 37 per cent of LGBTIQA+ Victorians experienced street harassment in 2021, highlighting how persistent hostility continues to discourage our community from coming forward with complaints.

That fear is further justified when prejudice bursts out into the open, as it did in Adelaide last weekend. Adelaide Crows player Izak Rankine is expected to be sanctioned for using a homophobic slur against another player during an AFL match last Saturday. Incidents like this matter because football holds a very powerful place in Australian culture, shaping attitudes well beyond the Oval. Players are not just athletes, they are young men in privileged positions, well paid and celebrated as role models in our community. With that comes a greater obligation to lead by example.

When discrimination is voiced on such a stage, it sends a dangerous message to fans, particularly young fans, that prejudice is acceptable. Those who are seen as leaders must set a higher standard because the reach of their words and actions carries influence across the community. Is it any wonder that young teenagers are committing egregious acts of violence against gay men in this country when elite footballers engage in verbal homophobic assaults in prime time? It is time for the AFL to act decisively. This is a stain on the reputation of our most elite and privileged sporting code, and it has to accept responsibility for the actions of their players.

Fifty years after decriminalisation, progress cannot be measured by laws alone but by whether queer Australians feel safe in their homes, in their communities and in their relationships. Too many still do not, and we owe it to those who have been attacked, those who have been silenced, those who are fearful of speaking out and those who are still hesitant to live openly to act. Governments, law enforcement, sporting codes and the wider community must do more to stop this wave of hatred. No Australian should live in fear simply for being themselves.

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