Coalition demands Labor hate speech crackdown explicitly outlaw threats and attacks on places of worship
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Expert warns there’s no guarantee stronger legislation will directly prevent antisemitic attacks. The Coalition has demanded the Albanese government explicitly outlaw threats and attacks against places of worship as part of a planned crackdown on hate speech.
Labor’s bill to further outlaw speech directly inciting violence and threats will be a major focus when federal MPs return to Canberra in February, with the final sitting weeks before the election likely to be dominated by discussion of a recent spate of antisemitic incidents.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has maintained the bill introduced in 2024 is a strong deterrent to antisemitism and other forms of hate speech and would protect places of worship. But it was quickly criticised for not going far enough to protect vulnerable groups from vilification and the shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, said the opposition would push for the bill to include more specific protections for religious institutions.
“We want to see that bill strengthened to include urging or threatening attacks against places of worship,” Cash told Guardian Australia. When introducing the bill in September, Dreyfus said the legislation would set up new criminal offences for threatening violence on the basis of race, religion, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or political opinion.
