PM to beef up hate speech laws, appoints David Gonski to lead antisemitism taskforce
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The news: The home affairs minister will have beefed-up powers to cancel or reject visas and new laws will be introduced to crack down on hate speech, under changes proposed by the Albanese government in the wake of the Bondi massacre.
The context: On Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled a suite of measures he will introduce to parliament aimed at curbing antisemitism, days after the deadliest terror attack in Australian history.
Under the plan, a new offence of “aggravated” hate speech will be introduced, along with increased penalties for hate speech promoting violence, while a federal offence for “serious vilification based on race and/or advocating racial supremacy” will be developed.
Hate will also be made an aggravating factor in sentencing those found guilty of online threats or harassment. Albanese said he was “open” to recalling parliament over the Christmas break to push through the reforms, but warned they would be complex and time may be needed to make them water-tight.
David Gonski will lead a 12-month taskforce to review the education system to ensure it “prevents, tackles and properly responds to” anti-Jewish hatred, Albanese revealed. eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant will also work with Segal to provide online safety advice to address antisemitism.
“Australians responded to that act of cowardice and violence with bravery and with kindness … It is now up to all of us to honour the courage of those Australians, the heroes of Bondi, in the most meaningful way possible,” Albanese told reporters.
Albanese said the government would “fully” adopt Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal’s report, released in July. That included powers to strip universities and cultural institutions of funding for failing to crack down on antisemitism — which is broadly and contentiously defined in Segal’s report.
Segal, speaking alongside Albanese, said the response to her report — which was handed down in July — had been “a long time coming”.
“It is an important next step,” she said.
“I'm encouraged by some of the medium-term actions that will take place over this next year relating to education. I think they are incredibly important.”
Disaster recovery funding will also be triggered, the first time it has been accessed in the wake of a terror attack.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke warned that generations of Australian politicians had failed to address extremists skirting on the threshold of criminality. That included preachers whose rhetoric fell just short of calling for violence.
“We're shifting the threshold. We have no time for organisations where their mission is to hate Australia and to hate fellow Australians,” he said.
“We all know the gateway to violence of that that sort of language provides.”
What they said: “There is always more that can be done. Always. Quite clearly, there's more to do. And on top of these announcements, there'll be more to do as well,” Albanese said.
