WA Liberal party candidate and City of Albany councillor Thomas Brough has been ordered to undertake workplace training following his comments earlier this year which linked the LGBTIQA+ communities with pedophilia.
Councillor Brough has been ordered by the City of Albany to attend training on respectful and inclusive workplaces after he claimed the plus symbol in LGBTIQA+ might also include “minor attracted people”. It is understood that the council took the action due to the large number of complaints received about the councillor’s comment.
The councillor later issued an apology for his comments saying he was only fulfilling his duty as an elected representative to put forward views that other in the community held and has voice concern to him.
Shortly after the controversy Councillor Brough, who is an emergency department doctor, was selected to be the Liberal party’s candidate for Albany at the 2025 state election.
While the city and the councillor have declined to comment on the training order, local LGBTIQA+ group Albany Pride has welcomed the move.
“We hope it sets the bar for the very least that’s expected of our councillors by the wider community in regard to equity and inclusion,” spokesperson Tiger Bird told the ABC.
Just.Equal calls on Cook government to focus on anti-vilification laws in Western Australia
Rights group Just.Equal Australia have repeated their call for the Cook Government to outline its policy position on anti-vilification laws in the wake of the Brough case.
WA spokesperson, Brian Greig, said the McGowan/Cook government had promised to outlaw incitement to hatred against LGBTIQA+ people this term.
“Then in February, the Premier reneged on his promise to reform the Equal Opportunity Act, blaming it on being ‘too controversial’ in an election year – despite the government having dragged its feet on these overdue reforms for several years.
“The big questions now are, will the state government make clear its policy position on anti-vilification laws, and can it assure our community that its bill will not simply address incitement to hatred, requiring criminal law, but also harmful speech – allowing for civil action?
Greig said the bifurcated models of hate speech laws found in Tasmania and NSW were the most effective, because criminal law was nearly always too high a benchmark to pursue a case.
“As the Brough incident shows, without any laws against LGBTIQA+ harmful speech in WA, the only recourse, under very limited situations, is a referral to the Australian Human Rights Commission, which has limited powers and no dedicated LGBTIQA+ Commissioner.”
Earlier this year, Just.Equal wrote to Premier Cook asking him to detail Labor’s LGBTIQA+ law reform policies across several areas, including hate speech.
The letter asked the Premier to sign a pledge to each of these policy areas and commit to legislation in the next term of government. No response has been received from the Labor government.
