Albany candidate ‘harassed, threatened’ after LGBTQI+ comments

The councillor says the series of disturbing incidents have not diminished his appetite to run for office.

Tom Brough, Liberal candidate for Albany in Western Australia, with former prime minister Tony Abbott. Picture: Facebook

A West Australian Liberal candidate who made controversial comments linking pedophilia to the LGBTQI+ community has ­secured a restraining order against a woman behind repeated alleged threats and harassment of him and his family.

Thomas Brough, who is running for the seat of Albany in WA’s southwest, secured the court order on Monday after going to police with details of multiple instances of disturbing behaviour towards him by a fellow resident.

Dr Brough’s police statement details a series of incidents in which the woman entered the emergency department where he works and repeatedly hurled abuse at him. According to Dr Brough’s statement, the woman at one point allegedly said words to the effect of “I know where you live and I’m going to make sure you f..king die”. She also allegedly said, “you and your woman and kid out there, year I f..king know where you are”.

He claimed in the statement that a psychiatrist colleague who had interacted with the woman had told him that she had described her intent to inflict physical violence on him and that the psychiatrist believed the threats were credible.

Last week, after visiting the ­Albany Court House to collect a violence restraining order application, Dr Brough was in his car preparing to leave when the woman parked her car across the front of his vehicle and blocked him in.

According to Dr Brough’s statement, she stepped out of her car while holding a large glass jar that he feared could be used as a weapon. A passer-by stepped between the pair and another man called the police.

The woman had also posted a photo of Dr Brough’s driveway on social media, in which she said “I’m ya neighbour ya sly dog see ya at Nanarup real soon for a nice neighbourly how ya ‘garn we’re both farmers after all”.

Dr Brough’s statement also detailed vandalism to his car – which is covered in political branding – that occurred around the time of their emergency room incidents. The woman posted photographs of the vandalism on her Facebook page, under the caption “For my Gays and They’s”.

Dr Brough, who sits on the City of Albany council, led a successful push to sever Albany’s sister city relationship with the Chinese city of Linyi after arguing that the arrangement could be a vehicle for Chinese Communist Party influence and interference.

He has also been criticised over comments made at a council meeting in which he argued that the plus symbol in LGBTQI+ could include “people who identify as minor-attracted persons”.

Those comments, and Dr Brough’s support for a group seeking to have two sex education books removed from the Albany library, saw him labelled a “dickhead” in the WA parliament by Culture and Arts Minister David Templeman. The minister ultimately withdrew the comment.

Dr Brough and his wife, who is 36 weeks pregnant, are upgrading their home security in the wake of the incidents.

“She hasn’t been sleeping, she’s been hyper vigilant. It’s just been extremely unpleasant, and that’s not what you expect when your husband wants to have a crack at being a representative,” he told The Australian.

He said his appetite to pursue a political career had not been affected by the incidents. “It just reaffirms the fact that we need people of courage and conviction and character to participate in the public arena,” he said.

Liberal MP Rick Wilson, whose federal electorate of O’Connor includes Albany, said the threats towards Dr Brough were some of the most egregious he’d ever seen.

“When you’ve got a wife at home on a small block just out of town with a two-year-old toddler and a baby due in two weeks, and you’re at work at the hospital where you’re getting constantly harassed by this person who’s (allegedly) threatened to kill you, and has posted on Facebook a photo of his front driveway saying, ‘I know where you live’, it’s really concerning,” Mr Wilson said.

“And quite frankly the pile-on, which was led by Rebecca Stevens, the member for Albany, and jumped on by David Templeman, calling Tom Brough a dickhead and hoeing into him in the parliament, I don’t think it reflects well on them.

“People in senior roles need to take some responsibility for their words.”

WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam said Labor had used the cloak of parliamentary privilege to incite the harassment of Dr Brough.

“Political candidates of all stripes do an enormous service to our democracy when they choose to run for office, and they should be able to do that without needing a VRO,” she said.

“It is typical of Roger Cook’s WA that people are having their families threatened because they stand for election.”

Mr Templeman said no one should be harassing or attacking anyone for their beliefs.

“Violence and threats against anyone are not acceptable and I urge everyone in the Albany community to treat each other with respect and tolerance,” he said.

“As I said at the time, libraries should be safe spaces for all people, no matter their age, gender, race, religion, disability, cultural identity, sexuality, language, educational attainment, socio-economic status, political allegiance or social viewpoint.”