The Liberal party’s candidate for Albany, Dr Thomas Brough, has offered an apology for comments he made linking LGBTIQA+ communities to pedophilia.
The City of Albany councilor made his comments during a council meeting in February during a discussion about the town’s annual Pride celebrations. The comments were widely condemned but Dr Brough defended them in an interview with the ABC, and restated them at a later council meeting.
The Liberal party later endorsed Dr Brough to be their candidate for Albany at the 2025 state election.
In a statement to the Albany Advertiser the politician now says he apologies to people who were hurt by his statement, but also says the views were those of a constituent he was representing, rather than his own views.
“Earlier this year, a member of the public asked me to follow up on their behalf regarding a matter they had raised with the Albany Pride group.”
“Earlier this year, a member of the public asked me to follow up on their behalf regarding a matter they had raised with the Albany Pride group,” he said in the statement.
“I did this during a council meeting, as I would for any other local council constituent who raised a matter.
“I acknowledge the way in which I approached this issue has caused distress for some people.
“I apologise for any hurt that has been caused.
“My desire is to be an effective and engaged advocate for the entire Albany community and I intend to get on with that task and earn the trust of local people.” Dr Brough said.
Liberal leader Libby Mettam welcomes apology
Liberal leader Libby Mettam has applauded Dr Brough for making the apology and clarifying the situation.
“Dr Brough has apologised for any hurt his comments caused, which I welcome,” she said.
“Like the rest of the WA Liberal team, I intend to get on with holding this tired, incompetent Labor Government to account for squandering WA’s economic boom, and only delivering soaring crime rates, a cost-of-living crisis and an explosion in hospital waiting lists.
“The same is expected from all our candidates.”
Local community says Dr Brough is trying to rewrite history
Tiger Bird from Albany Pride has commented on the apology saying it was not good enough.
“To be quite frank, it’s not so much an apology as it is him trying to rewrite history and change the narrative,” they said.
Following the comments, and Dr Brough’s preselection, over 500 people signed a petition at Change.org calling for an apology and for the party to dis-endorse him as their candidate.
Matt McGrechan who launched the petition said that the comments made by Dr Brough were not only absurd, but vilified an entire segment of the population.
McGrechan said the comments were “damaging, hurtful, and potentially dangerous to vulnerable individuals.”
Brough however has also claimed he’s the victim of vilification from the media and activists.
Writing in his regular column for the newsletter of the Lower Kalgan Community Association, Councilor Brough accused the ABC as misrepresenting him as a homophobe, and alleged The Albany Advertiser had vilified him by suggesting he was making a link between gay people and sexual abuse of minors.
“This is a mainstream issue and concern for all Australians.” Councillor Brough wrote in the newsletter, saying it was a subject worthy of public debate and opposition to his views was “sinister”.
“As an elected representative, my duty is to bring matters to the public square on behalf of a constituency. As such, the societal consequences of attempting to de-platform a democratically elected representative are sinister.” Councillor Brough wrote.
“It has a chilling effect on the thoughts and the speech of the community. It discourages citizens from engaging in debate. It undermines the integrity of our democratic institutions.”
Just.Equal describe the apology as “mealy mouthed”
WA spokesman for Just.Equal, Brian Greig, said Dr Brough is offering a ‘mealy mouthed’ apology only for the “hurt it has caused some people.”
Greig said Dr Brough has yet to acknowledge that what he said was wrong and harmful.
“This issue isn’t about anyone feelings, it’s not about people feeling hurt. It’s about the harm that is caused to LGBTI people when claims are made that they are associated with child sex abusers.
“Not only is this harm psychologically damaging to LGBTI people, especially those who have yet to come out, but it also nurtures a culture of fear and sometimes violence towards LGBTI people.
“Dr Brough’s claims also distract from the reality that child sex abuse mostly occurs in the home, girls are overwhelmingly victims, and the father or close male relative is usually the abuser.
The only acceptable apology from Dr Brough is for him to categorically state that his comments were wrong; that there is no correlation between LGBTI people and paedophilia; and to express regret for the harm that his comments have caused,” Greig said.
