Inquiry into anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes in Victoria

FDPN made a submission to the Victoria Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee in response to the Inquiry into anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes in Victoria. Our submission focuses on the experiences of LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people.

Summary of recommendations

1. Fund research about the prevalence, operations and links between international anti-rights, anti-gender and anti-immigration movements and their counterparts in Victoria, and Australia more broadly.
2. Develop and implement targeted, culturally appropriate education on LGBTIQA+ rights, anti‑discrimination protections, and hate crime/vilification laws across all migrant and refugee settlement stages (pre‑departure, arrival, and early settlement), including age‑appropriate materials for young people.
3. Fund awareness-raising campaigns on the human rights of LGBTIQA+ people, delivered in intersectional ways.
4. Fund awareness-raising and prevention campaigns to increase understanding of the legal protections available in vilification and hate crimes cases.
5. Fund the Forcibly Displaced People Network as the LGBTIQA+ refugee-led peak body to build settlement capability across community sectors including LGBTIQA+, settlement, health, housing, and employment.
6. Provide sustainable and quarantined funding for LGBTIQA+ refugee- and migrant-led community organisations, recognising their essential role in supporting belonging and safety.
7. Mandate comprehensive training on working with LGBTIQA+ refugees in all government-funded settlement service contracts, developed and delivered in partnership with LGBTIQA+ refugee-led organisations.
8. Amend section 102B of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (VIC) to include immigration status and political belief as protected attributes from unlawful vilification.
9. Amend division 2D Serious vilification in the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) to include immigration status and political belief as protected attributes from serious vilification.
10. Fund LGBTIQA+ community-controlled organisations, in particular LGBTIQA+ refugee- and migrant-led to deliver integrated support through a holistic lawyer and social worker model for LGBTIQA+ people victims of vilification and hate crimes.
11. Fund justice system peer-navigators who can provide one-to-one support across dealing with police, the Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, VCAT, criminal justice, and other relevant bodies. Support must be culturally responsive, LGBTIQA+ inclusive, migration-aware and accessible to people with disability.
12. Invest in targeted community education about unlawful vilification, ensuring that such education is delivered in an intersectional way, translated in multiple community languages and is accessible. This work should be delivered in partnership with community organisations that already support LGBTIQA+ people, refugees and migrants.
13. Ensure the police undertake proactive and sustained outreach with LGBTIQA+ communities including those who are forcibly displaced people.
14. Mandate the training for all staff within police on working with LGBTIQA+ communities, including specifically with LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people. The training on working with LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people should be designed and delivered by LGBTIQA+ refugee-led organisations.