Police in Western Australia are investigating flyers distributed to homes across Perth targeting members of the state’s LGBTIQ+ community.
The flyers, which are anonymous, display photographs of LGBTIQ+ people and falsely accuse them of crimes such as paedophilia.
WA police confirmed they had received several reports about the flyers and said inquiries were under way.
A Pride WA board member, Gregory Helleren, is featured on one flyer. It shows a photograph of him alongside false allegations of paedophilia.
“I’ve been quite disturbed by it. Not for my on personal safety or reputation but more that this is something that is still happening all these years after gay law reform,” he said.
“The other flyers I’ve seen … the claims are outrageous but they’re plausible enough that your average person looks at it and … goes ‘maybe they do traffic drugs’.”
Helleren said he first learned about the flyers last year but his brother alerted him to the one with his image in January. He reported it to police the following month.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailA spokesperson for WA police said any person who believed they had been the victim of a crime or were depicted in the flyer should report the matter to police.
“WA Police have received several reports relating to these flyers and inquiries are ongoing,” a statement said.
The flyers have renewed calls from advocates for Western Australia to strengthen its anti-vilification laws.
Misty Farquhar, of the state’s peak LGBTQI+ organisation Rainbow Futures WA, said the state’s anti-vilification protects remained incomplete.
“Western Australians are understandably anxious. The recent increase in targeted harassment and violence across the country, including a terrorist attack on the Boorloo Invasion Day rally, remind us how quickly division can escalate into real-world harm,” they said.
State law punishes hate crimes on the basis of race, but does not extend to any other communities that experience targeted abuse, Farquhar said.
Farquhar said gaps in state-based legal protections for disability, sexuality, gender identity, sex characteristics and religion, creates “space that can be exploited by those willing to push the limits.”
Equality Australia’s legal director, Heather Corkhill, said there was a wide disparity in protections for LGBTIQ+ people across the country, with WA’s falling “well short”.
“Targeting rainbow families online, inciting violence against trans people, or threatening gay men with flyers is unacceptable – and it demands a strong, coordinated response,” she said in a statement.
WA’s attorney general, Dr Tony Buti, said the flyers were “abhorrent” and targeted harassment “has no place in WA”.
