Perth police investigate hate flyers targeting LGBTQ+ residents

Western Australia police are investigating a series of anonymous flyers distributed to homes across Perth that target members of the LGBTQ+ community with defamatory claims.

The leaflets feature photographs of LGBTQ+ individuals alongside false allegations, including involvement in drug trafficking. WA police confirmed they had received multiple reports and said inquiries are ongoing.

Pride WA board member Gregory Helleren appears on one of the flyers, The Guardian reports. He said he was alarmed by the material, particularly given the progress made since gay law reform.

“I’ve been quite disturbed by it. Not for my own 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 became aware of the flyers last year, and in January his brother notified him that his image had been used. He reported the matter to police the following month.

A WA police spokesperson urged anyone who believed they had been the victim of a crime or depicted in the flyers to come forward. “WA Police have received several reports relating to these flyers and inquiries are ongoing,” the statement said.

The incident has renewed calls from advocates to strengthen Western Australia’s anti-vilification framework to better protect LGBTQ+ people and other marginalised groups.

Misty Farquhar, from Rainbow Futures WA, said the state’s current protections are incomplete and out of step with the level of risk communities are experiencing.

“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.

While state law provides penalties for hate crimes on the basis of race, Farquhar noted that it does not extend equivalent protections to other communities that regularly experience targeted abuse.

Farquhar said gaps in state-based legal protections for disability, sexuality, gender identity, sex characteristics and religion create “space that can be exploited by those willing to push the limits.”

Equality Australia’s legal director, Heather Corkhill, said protection for LGBTQ+ people varies widely across Australia and that Western Australia lags behind.

“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.

WA attorney general Dr Tony Buti condemned the flyers, describing them as “abhorrent”, and said targeted harassment “has no place in WA”.