Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore says she will seek a meeting with NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb to discuss the findings of an LGBTI+ safety summit.
Held on Friday, the summit was convened to address a recent rise in violence and hate directed towards queer community members.
The City of Sydney hopes to use it to create a co-ordinated plan to prevent further violence, Moore said.
“It was inspiring and empowering but also depressing,” she said. “We heard a lot from the community and our speakers, and there is much to dissect over the coming weeks.”
Moore said she and Sydney MP Alex Greenwich will seek the meeting with the police commissioner and also take any recommendations to parliament.
Speakers at the summit included the co-secretary general of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association Ymania Brown; president of Anti-Discrimination NSW Helen McKenzie; and Professor Nicole Asquith from the Australian Hate Crime Network.
Activist group Pride in Protest, which also attended the summit, criticised it.
The group said it failed to hold meaningful dialogue, didn’t have enough community voices, and avoided community consultation.
“Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s LGBTQIA+ safety summit was a failure by the City of Sydney to hold a meaningful dialogue between the queer community and policymakers,” said Pride in Protest member Charlie Murphy.
“Rather than being an opportunity for queer community members to raise genuine and longstanding concerns, invitees were dictated to in academic lectures that re-treaded from what little reform local government has already put in place.”
Greenwich’s Equality Bill was discussed during the summit, Murphy said. But while there was broad sentiment that it needed to be supported, there was no plan on how it could be passed.
The bill is designed to modernise laws and advance equality for LGBTIQA+ people in NSW.
“Though some members of the Labor Party were present, they made no comment on Labor’s intent to pass the Equality Bill. … Greenwich was asked about what he knew about Labor’s intentions with the bill but gave a non-answer,” Murphy said.
Despite being about safety, police were not invited to the summit. This came about after Pride in Protest requested the City of Sydney not to have them attend.
“Pride in Protest maintains that demands should be placed on NSW Police, rather than produced in collaboration with them,” said Murphy.
Eliot Hastie is a senior news producer at Channel Ten, reporting on a range of general stories, specialising in foreign affairs and LGBTQ+ stories. He’s also a reporter for Gay Sydney News, where he covers LGBTQIA+ culture, politics and nightlife. He previously helped to build and launch ausbiz, Australia's only live streaming finance news channel, where he was also an executive producer and host. He has previously worked as a finance and business journalist for publications including Fintech Business, Real Estate Business and other Momentum Media titles. Eliot holds a journalism degree from the University of Westminster and brings experience in both broadcast and digital reporting. Contact Eliot: [email protected]
