Tuesday, 8 September 2026

 Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (13:24): Pursuant to standing order 23.22, I table a report on the inquiry into anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes in Victoria, including an appendix, extracts of proceedings and a minority report, from the Legal and Social Issues Committee, and I present the transcripts of evidence. I move:

That the transcripts of evidence be tabled and the report be published.

Motion agreed to.

Joe McCRACKEN: I move:

That the Council take note of the report.

At the outset I want to thank my fellow members of the Legal and Social Issues Committee. This I believe is our last report that is being submitted to Parliament, and I want to acknowledge every single member of the committee that has made a contribution. It has honestly been great fun working with everyone. There is a diversity of views, but that is all fun and an important and integral part of democracy. I also really want to acknowledge the committee staff: Patrick O’Brien, as the committee manager of course, and some of the wonderful staff that are in the gallery today. Thank you so much for your efforts in helping us get to a point where we have been able to deliver this report and a number of other reports. Honestly, thank you from all of us. It has really been much appreciated, and the work that you have done is first-class.

Now to the report itself: there are a lot of interesting things in this report that I want to go through. I do not have enough time to get through everything, but I do want to draw the Parliament’s attention to a number of different areas. Firstly, finding 1 is that anti-LGBTIQA+ sentiment is not something that just happened yesterday. In finding 1 it is something that has happened in recent years, and it is something that has been bubbling away but has been brought to the fore by technology. That is basically why this report came about, because of app-facilitated violent attacks, and those facilitated attacks have caused a lot of harm. I want to acknowledge all the witnesses that came forward and gave very personal and very heartfelt accounts of their experiences. It has been a harrowing experience to listen to some of the comments that have been made by witnesses who shared very personal accounts of what has happened to them. We thank them for coming forward and putting their voices to this report.

Finding 3 in the report talks about the fact that there is no nationally consistent definition of hate crimes in Australia. If those in the federal Parliament will listen to this, I think it is incredibly important to have a nationally consistent definition of what a hate crime actually is. One of the most important aspects of this report talks about the typology of people that are committing these crimes, and the typology that is the most common is those that are thrillseekers. Thrillseekers are not particularly motivated by any ideology; they are motivated by a sense of seeking a thrill. They get off on the excitement of the experience, and sometimes that can lead to criminal offences like stealing a phone or a wallet and those sorts of things, and that can lead to assaults. But it is not motivated by some ideology; it is motivated by the thrillseeking aspect of this, which is an incredibly important part to note.

One of the other parts that this inquiry found is that there is not significant or adequate data collection to really reveal the full extent of the problem, particularly when these matters are reported. Quite often they are reported as ‘other’, and that needs to change so that accurate reporting and data collection, and action from that, can result in meaningful change going forward. That is finding 7.

Finding 13 talks about Victoria Police. They do not support the establishment of a dedicated hate crimes unit. Instead they prefer a statewide policing model supported by different specialist areas. There was other evidence to the contrary in the report, but it is a worthwhile point for consideration going forward, because it is a very significant issue.

One of the aspects in finding 17 that was quite widely spoken about is the fact that victim-survivors often face significant barriers in navigating the justice system and support systems. In a perverse sort of way, the more that someone has felt an impact by an instance, the more difficult it is to navigate through the various complexities of the justice system and actually get to justice. Hopefully the government takes that finding very seriously.

Lastly, I want to point to finding 37, which notes that the federal eSafety Commissioner declined to participate in this inquiry. If the federal eSafety Commissioner had in fact agreed to participate, perhaps we would have had some insight from a federal perspective about what changes could be made. With the short time left, thanks, everyone, for your participation in the inquiry. We hope that this leads to meaningful change.

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:30): Just on four weeks ago five young people were arrested in Dandenong, in the heart of my electorate, for a spate of horrific gay bashings. This all too well went to the crux of what we looked at in this inquiry. We have seen a global trend of assaults on particularly gay men and other people who use these types of dating apps, a trend that has been observed across the Western world. It often comes in spikes and is clearly driven by a range of forces, more than we can adequately confront and fully address in one state. But there are things that we can do in this state, and that is why I am very pleased to speak to the tabling of this report today and its findings and recommendations that go to what we can do and where we can advocate to the Commonwealth to advance those protections. I look forward to having much more to say on this subject when we have some more substantive time to do that.

I want to acknowledge our incredibly hardworking staff on this committee, including Patrick, Jess, Fred and Julie, for their work – tireless, as always – to bring this report together. I want to particularly acknowledge all of those stakeholders who did come and give their evidence, whether in writing or in person. We heard some very powerful evidence ranging from academics right through to those with direct lived experience as victim-survivors. There was a great deal of evidence in this inquiry, and I look forward to talking about it further in subsequent contributions. I will make the note, though, that the evidence that we received showed that thrillseeking behaviours certainly are a part of hate crimes. When someone is being assaulted and having homophobic slurs shouted at them, that certainly underscores the point.

It was an interesting pathway to get this inquiry approved. It was very sad to see the Liberal Party opposing this inquiry. However, I do want to absolutely acknowledge and pay tribute to our chair Mr McCracken, who thoroughly, meticulously and compassionately guided us through this inquiry in a sensitive and supportive way. So I acknowledge Mr McCracken.

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:32): From the outset I want to thank fellow members of the committee, particularly our chair, Joe. Thank you for your work on this inquiry. Thank you to Patrick and the entire secretariat for the tireless efforts that went into this over a very short space of time proportional to other inquiries we might engage in in the Victorian Parliament. I want to thank the community for their input, their lived experience and their sometimes quite harrowing stories that were contributed as part of this inquiry process. I think that part of the Greens moving this motion to establish this inquiry in the upper house was so that these stories could come to the fore and be properly examined, and that hopefully we, through a range of findings and recommendations here, can seek to offer a pathway for justice for so many people that have been targeted and attacked, often violently, on the basis of who they are or for loving who they love. It was just so important that this got the time that it deserved before this parliamentary term ends.

We heard about hatred and violence against LGBTIQA+ people rising in the community and how that has been bubbling away, as the chair has acknowledged. We heard about how technology is being used to facilitate attacks against community members, particularly through dating apps like Grindr. I want to thank, in particular, Thorne Harbour Health. I want to thank Switchboard Victoria. I want to thank LGBTIQA+ communities commissioner Joe Ball for their profound evidence that they shared with us. It was incredibly important that we heard them in the hearings. We examined where the hate ends, but importantly we had to look at where it begins. The prevention part of this piece is so pivotal and cannot be overlooked. We heard about how conditions are creating the background for this hate to fester. We heard about the difficulty in reaching young people, particularly young men, as they are flooded with manosphere content online. We heard about misogyny becoming a gateway to violence where difference becomes a target. These are such important recommendations and findings. I call on the government to move on this as fast as possible, and I commend this report to the house.

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (13:34): I also rise to speak on the anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes in Victoria parliamentary inquiry report and to acknowledge the chair, Joe McCracken, for his great work; the secretariat, committee and staff who are here in the gallery today for their hard work; co-chair Michael Galea from Labor; and the significant input from the Greens with Aiv Puglielli and other Labor and Greens MPs on this particular report, which for many of them was very personal in the sense that they were very aware of what they were fighting for and the importance that it held for the people in the community that they were speaking up on behalf of. The inquiry, as we have heard, was prompted by a series of assaults on people in the LGBTIQA+ community that were facilitated by particular apps like Grindr. Many of these crimes were found to be, as has been noted, the result of thrillseeking, and the inquiry report makes findings and recommendations about improving safety on dating apps and social media more broadly. I firmly believe – and I made that very clear – that everyone in our community deserves to feel safe. I do not want anyone in Victoria – or in the world, for that matter – to be a victim of violent hate crime, including people in the LGBTIQA+ community. We have heard that there is an issue with definitions. We have heard that there have been historical challenges for people in the LGBTIQA+ community.

I do want to note, though, that there were issues for me in areas where I felt there was a lack of data. There was a constant concern from people saying that there is a need for more data. Questions arose for me about the lack of data and independent data for programs like Safe Schools and Respectful Relationships being the solution. I note that the Greens also brought a number of vilification laws to the inquiry report adoption meeting but not to the hearings.

I had a number of things I wanted to say, but I will just end with this: it was wonderful to hear the contributions of people working together collaboratively to bring a solution for legitimate voice in the community, and I commend that in particular as being a wonderful solution to look at.

 Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO (Northern Metropolitan) (13:36): I rise to offer a very short contribution to the anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes parliamentary inquiry report. I also want to thank my colleague Aiv Puglielli, the Victorian Greens spokesperson for LGBTIQA+ equality, for championing this important inquiry and what this means for the broader community. I also want to add my sentiments to everyone that made a submission and appeared online and was brave enough to share their harrowing accounts of violence and abuse being hailed against them for who they are. We heard evidence from many stakeholders on solutions, both preventative and restorative, to deal with this rapid increase in violence. Everyone deserves to feel safe in online spaces and in public. We heard that evidence is showing a growing trend, not just in the state but across the country, in the way online dating apps are being used to lure people into horrible, facilitated violence and how this violence is in most cases perpetuated by young men. We also heard about advances in AI and how this is increasing the threats. Now is the time for governments to work together to stamp out this violence and address the harmful attitudes and norms that allow these sorts of violent behaviours to fester. It is just as important to acknowledge the historical harms that have been perpetuated against the LGBTIQA+ community as well. I want to end with a quote. During the hearings Jenna Tuke, the CEO at Switchboard Victoria, said:

Leadership matters here. When leaders and institutions look away, are silent or fail to offer alternative messaging to the hate speech that is pervading our screens and airways, that emboldens those who seek to harm and divide us.

I hope the government is listening. I hope that they do what they need to do, and that is to advocate for the community. Thank you, just quickly, to Patrick O’Brien, Jessica Summers, Fred Toll and Julie Barnes for their dedication during this inquiry. And thank you, Joe.

 Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (13:38): I am pleased to speak on this report, and I want to begin by acknowledging the incredible courage of every single person who contributed to this inquiry. To the victim-survivors and their families and loved ones and the community organisations who took the time to provide submissions and give evidence: thank you. We recognise how profoundly difficult and distressing it is to revisit these events. Reliving trauma and sharing stories of pain, fear and violence takes immense personal strength, and we are all deeply grateful to everyone who came forward to ensure that their lived experience was heard.

I would like to join with Mrs Hermans in recognising Mr McCracken, Mr Galea, Ms Payne and Mr Puglielli for their leadership in this inquiry and how personal it is for them. Certainly I would like to say that we saw the very best of cooperation in this chamber throughout this inquiry, and it was a real honour to be a part of it.

The evidence detailed in this report is confronting. We know that the majority of LGBTIQA+ people report experiencing violence in their lifetime. We also know that rainbow mob, alongside our multicultural and multifaith LGBTIQA+ communities, frequently experience violence compounded by overlapping complex forms of discrimination. But behind every single one of these statistics is a human being – it is a young person who feels afraid to hold their partner’s hand on public transport, a parent constantly worried for their child’s safety or an elder who has lived through decades of discrimination only to see it surface again in new forms. We have also seen the deeply concerning rise of attacks preying on young people on dating apps. Hate crimes do not occur in a vacuum. They are fuelled by rhetoric that dehumanises and online spaces that amplify prejudice. These cause real, lasting harm. Safe and supportive communities are so very important, and that is why last week I visited Affirmation Station and Thorne Harbour Health to thank them for all their efforts in this inquiry, alongside the Minister for Equality and the local candidate for Brunswick. Can I just say in Victoria we are absolutely clear that equality is not negotiable, and I, with great pride, recommend and commend this report to the house.

Motion agreed to.