Thursday, 31 July 2025

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (17:58): (1788) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Equality and relates to the recent wave of violent assaults and bashing of gay men. Gay men across Australia have been confronted with a surge in homophobic incidents. All governments, including the Victorian government, must take immediate action to ensure the safety of the LGBTQIA+ community. Just two weeks ago the owners of the iconic Melbourne gay venue the Laird arrived to find a homophobic slur spray-painted across both entrances. That weekend the very same graffiti was also found near the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. By May of this year Victoria Police had made over 35 arrests in relation to robbery, false imprisonment, extortion and some of the most horrific violent assaults of gay men. These attacks have largely been committed by groups of young men or boys, some of them as young as 13 years old. These are the cases that have been reported, the stories that have been told. But we know that there are far more instances where gay men have been bashed that have not been reported. Gay men are scared, and sadly, many are scared to go to the police. Without complete and accurate data we cannot know the full extent of this crisis and the government cannot fully support victims and cannot take action required to protect the queer community. So the action I seek is for the minister to create a new independent tool for reporting homophobic incidents in Victoria.