An inquiry has officially been launched into unsolved LGBTIQ hate crimes in NSW spanning four decades.
The special commission of inquiry will be lead by Supreme Court judge John Sackar and will be presented by June 30 2023. It’ll specifically focus on suspected hate crimes of LGBTIQ people committed between 1970 and 2010.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet first promised he’d launch an inquiry back in 2021.
Perrottet said on Saturday he hoped the inquiry would help “close a dark chapter of [the] state’s history”.
“These unsolved deaths have left loving families without answers for too long,” he said.
“This Inquiry provides an opportunity to focus further scrutiny on suspected hate crimes.”
A landmark report by NSW Police Strike Force Parrabell investigated 88 deaths in 2018. It found that almost a third of those were linked to homophobia and gay-hate bias. The new inquiry will investigate the manner and cause of death in all the cases that remain unsolved from Strike Force Parrabell.
There was then an inquiry by the NSW upper house’s Standing Committee on Social Issues into gay and transgender hate crimes. It was published in May 2021. The report called for the NSW Government to establish a judicial inquiry or expert review into the crimes.
One of the biggest findings from the 2021 report was around the historic failures by NSW Police around the crimes.
“Historically the NSW Police Force failed in its responsibility to properly investigate cases of historical gay and transgender hate crime,” it said.
“This has undermined the confidence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGTBIQ) communities in the NSW Police Force and the criminal justice system more broadly.”
In his new inquiry, Justice Sackar will be able to hold hearings, inspect documents and summon documents.
“A Special Commission of Inquiry is a powerful investigative tool to look for answers for which many have been waiting decades. No one should have to suffer the distress of not knowing what happened to someone they love,” said NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman in a statement.
Alex Greenwich, an Independent Member for Sydney, celebrated the inquiry but said it was overdue.
“It is disappointing that it has taken this long and I know that for the families, the friends and the communities of a number of the victims, that the length of time has really added to the trauma that they have experienced,” he said as per the ABC.
“We need to really learn from mistakes of the past, mistakes made by the police and others and make sure that we learn from these horrific times in the past to make sure this never happens again.”
