By Ethan Benedicto
Two large anti-LGBTQIA+ banners that targeted current Bruce MP Julian Hill were removed from a walkbridge in Dandenong over the Princes Highway this morning.
Officers attended the Hemmings Park bridge overpass, which runs over Princes Highway, and are processing the scene with the banners removed.
Acting inspector Kristopher Hamilton said that “there is absolutely no place for hate-based behaviour in our society and police will not tolerate such activity”.
A CCTV still image also captured the same banner, which hung on the railings of a walkbridge overpass in Narre Warren off Prospect Hill Road and over the Monash Freeway.
The banner in Narre Warren, which had Hill’s face on the left side, read in large writing, “LGBTQIA+ means more to Julian Hill than you the people”, with a rainbow covering the right side.
The Guardian reported that the poster/ad, did not include an official campaign endorsement, which, if it did, would reveal who was behind the message.
The banners were placed on public property, and banners placed on sidewalks over highways and freeways are illegal and require approval from the Department of Transport and Planning due to road safety concerns.
Hill is an openly gay man who is in a relationship but does not have a husband, and through the Guardian, he said that those who displayed the signs have since resorted to “these sorts of smears as they’ve got nothing positive to say”.
As it stands, it is not known who placed the banners, with VicPol adding that investigations remain ongoing.
Neighbouring LaTrobe and Liberal MP, Jason Wood, said that the banners were “disgraceful” and that “any attacks on MPs or candidates because of their sexual orientation, race, or faith background are not acceptable”.
“Sadly, as I have also found out, family members are no longer off limits in media and political hate campaigns,” he said.
Amid a recent heated debate on migration numbers, Wood declared his family’s stake in a company that assists migrants in securing visas, which revealed that his wife, Judy Cheung-Wood, is a director and shareholder of Ferntree Migration.
On the banners, Wood added that the Liberal Party “referred the matter to the AFP”.
The chief executive of Australia’s peak LGBTQIA+ lobby group, Anna Brown, said to the Guardian that she condemned the banners.
“This anonymous attack should be denounced by all sides of politics and called out for what it is – cowardly and homophobic,” she said.
“Imagine if this was an attack on another politician’s partner or kid,s and you immediately understand just how disgraceful and vile these personal and pointless insults are.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said this Friday afternoon that he also condemned the banners, adding that families are off-limits, and that it was “disgraceful”, he told the Guardian.
However, former Liberal and independent councillor in the City of Greater Dandenong Council, Tim Dark, had shared a photo of the banner on Facebook and referenced Hill’s ‘non-existent husband’.
He said: “It’s rare to see accurate political advertising these days, but there you go”.
The story is developing, and more information will be added once available.
