LGBTQ Organisations Welcome NSW Hate Crime Reforms And Call For More Support For The Community
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The NSW Government has today announced legislation to strengthen hate crime laws for the LGBTQIA+ community, in response to a rising level of hate.
The new legislation will expand “post and boast’”offences to cover serious assaults and robberies, referring to the practice of committing crimes and posting to social media, which reflects many of the so-called “Grindr attacks” on gay and bi men.
The legislation will also create a new offence directed at offenders who lure victims on false pretences only to offend against them, including via dating apps. Penalties for publicly threatening or inciting violence on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status will also be increased. An aggravated version of this offence will also be created and result in a maximum of seven years’ imprisonment.
Under the package of reforms, The Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 would be amended to make it easier to prove offences were motivated by hatred or prejudice, where an offender demonstrated or expressed these views in the course of the offending or shortly before or afterwards.
As Star Observer has reported, theres been a marked rise in anti LGBTQIA+ hate crimes in Australia, with the targeting of gay and bi men on apps some of the most confronting and violent. Recently the ABC released a two-year investigation into hate crimes with distressing footage of Islamic State sympathisers hunting and bashing gay and bisexual boys and men on camera in Sydney. Using freedom of information laws, they were able to discover that almost 200 incidents of anti-LGBTQIA+ hate crimes have been reported in NSW since only 2023.
Meanwhile, Victoria has set up a parliamentary inquiry into these crimes, with Victoria Police confirming that over 35 individuals were arrested for these kinds of crimes over 2024-2025.
Praise for the new legislation
ACON, NSW’s largest community health organisation for people of diverse sexualities and genders has “strongly welcomed” today’s announcement.
“Over recent years, the LGBTQ community has been experiencing a rising level of hate. We are especially concerned by robberies and violent attacks against gay and bisexual men who have been lured into unsafe situations through social media apps,” said ACON CEO Michael Woodhouse.
Woodhouse says that effective police work, focused on the safety of victims, will help reduce violence.
“The new tools created by this legislation should improve community safety by giving police additional ways to hold perpetrators of hate crimes to account.”
Independent MP for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, has also welcomed the new legislation, saying we need to ensure we have laws that are fit for purpose to protect the community, as well as catching offenders
“In NSW, you should be able to seek a hook-up, coffee, or date on an app and not be met with violence, robbery, outing or intimidation. These laws respond to an emerging hate crime targeting gay and bisexual men, but the reforms will make NSW safer or everyone who uses an app to meet people.”
Advocacy group Equality Australia says new legislation to strengthen hate crime laws in NSW is an important first step, but warns a broader response is needed to address the rise in targeted hate against LGBTIQ+ people.
“Targeting people on dating apps and luring them into violent attacks is a deeply disturbing form of hate crime and it’s important the law specifically recognises that harm,” said Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill.
“The government’s reforms send an important signal that violence and intimidation will be taken seriously, but hate is a social problem and criminal laws alone won’t solve it.
Expanding protections to LGBTQIA+ communities.
“While this legislation is welcome, the violence experienced by our communities demands a comprehensive response,” says ACON CEO Michael Woodhouse. “We also need to find ways to increase reporting, better support victims of hate crimes and expand evidence-based programs to divert people expressing hate away from acts of violence.”
Alex Greenwich says that there is more work to be done with these reforms.”Laws should not only support people after they are bashed, but before they are. We need to make sure our incitement of hatred laws protect the LGBTQ community, that access to justice is improved through a fully funded LGBTQ legal service, and we need to see the expert review on hate crimes from Justice John Sackar that could be informing and strengthening the government’s response,” Mr Greenwich said.
Justice Sackar’s review on hate crimes is special commission of inquiry into gay-hate deaths in Sydney stretching over 40 years, which was announced in 2022, and has been sitting with the government since November 2025.
This sentiment is expanded upon by Equality Australia, who also call for the urgent release of the Sackar review, and say the reforms are a significant first step, but legislation alone won’t address the growing threat facing LGBTQIA+ people.
“We are seeing an alarming rise in often violent, targeted attacks against LGBTIQ+ people driven by a dangerous and deeply entrenched form of hatred. Addressing this will require more than stronger penalties — it also means improving reporting pathways, tracking emerging hate trends and ensuring victims have access to properly funded support services,” said Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill.
Ms Corkhill noted the legislation falls short of creating a comprehensive scheme of aggravated offences, where a person would be charged with a hate-motivated crime, leaving it up to courts to consider it as an aggravating factor.
“When hate is recognised from the outset, it leads to better data collection, greater accountability, and proper recognition of the harm experienced by victims targeted because of who they are,” Ms Corkhill said.
She also noted NSW government could also take immediate steps to strengthen protections for LGBTIQ+ people against hate speech, after they were expanded last year on the grounds of race alone.
“Intimidating rainbow families online, calling for violence against trans people, or threatening gay men on the street is unacceptable and demands a serious response,” she said.
“These reforms fail to address the widespread verbal abuse, threats, online harassment and doxxing that many LGBTIQ+ people experience, sometimes on a daily basis. Hate speech laws should protect all communities targeted because of who they are — not just some. We need to intervene earlier and call out hate before it escalates into physical violence.”
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