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Extreme anti-LGBTI posters believed to have been put up by a neo-Nazi group have appeared around Townsville.

The posters, which depict the Grim Reaper wielding a scythe labelled “AIDS”, were distributed by neo-Nazi group The Antipodean Resistance, The Townsville Bulletin reported.


The poster also bears the words, “They’re queer, they’re here but not for much longer”.

The imagery appears to reference the notorious AIDS awareness scare campaign from the 1980s, which is believed to have contributed heavily to HIV and AIDS stigma in Australia – though many maintain the campaign was successful.

Another poster found in the Queensland city reads “Life or Death: Families or Faggotry?” alongside images of a mother and daughter juxtaposed with two men wearing leather. The poster also bears a swastika.

A Townsville man found the posters on Stanley Street and said he was unsettled by them.

“I’m in a same-sex relationship and I found it a bit disconcerting.

“You hope their influence is very small but the fact they are trying to spread their influence around other places in Australia is concerning.”

The posters are part of a recent spate of similar incidents, with the posters often linked to the same neo-Nazi group.

Similar posters were found in Melbourne in June, which attacked people living with HIV and mocked pride month.

Anti-semitic posters which also called for the execution of gay people were found in Sydney in March, with NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadef saying that New South Wales police were powerless to stop them being put up.

“It’s disgraceful, it’s horrific, it’s unacceptable that anybody in this country in 2018 can publically call for violence, death, murder against any group of fellow Australians,” said Alhadef at the time.

“The law in New South Wales effectively says, go for your life. Let’s wait until something happens before we take action.

“The police cannot have their hands tied in that way.”

Canberra and Adelaide were also hit with flyers comparing LGBTI people to Nazis in March.

Others bearing the words “stop the fags” were found around Melbourne during the postal survey last year, with even more making headlines just a week later.

In August, Queensland’s LGBTI Legal Service, which monitored instances of possible hate speech throughout the postal survey, filed a complaint of vilification against 25 people over their public statements about LGBTI people.