New Hate Speech and Gun Control Legislation
The Australian Government’s hate speech and gun control bills, in response to the Bondi attack, have been passed in both houses of Parliament with agreement from the Liberals for the former and the Greens for the latter.
The laws allow the Minister for Home Affairs to ban hate groups, increase penalties for so-called hate preachers who advocate or threaten violence and expand powers to revoke or refuse visas for people with extremist views living in or coming to Australia.
The lead up to the legislation provoked concerns from a wide range of groups including the Churches. NCCA’s General Secretary, Liz Stone appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security as did Sydney Anglican Bishop Michael Stead and William Redmond, representing the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
All were in agreement on the need to address antisemitism and advocated that the legislation was rushed and required more time for careful consideration to avoid unintended consequences; and the need for greater clarity on definitions.
There were differences in the church submissions concerning the exemption for religious texts and expanding the groups to be included in protections from discrimination under the hate speech legislation. Such differences reflect the diversity of views of the Christian Churches on the development of social and legal policy.
NCCA’s submission is available here. Hopefully, the new legislation will stem the rise in antisemitism and we pray that it will contribute to making a safer more socially cohesive society in Australia.