Experts say the federal government must actually use new laws being finalised this summer to crack down on hate speech and so-called “hate preachers” in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
Four days after two gunmen targeted Jewish Australians attending a Chanukah by the Sea event, Anthony Albanese announced Labor would strengthen hate speech laws, acknowledging more could have been done to tackle antisemitism.
The prime minister did not rule out calling back parliament before it was due to sit next in February, but warned the laws were “complex” and required extensive work to ensure they “stack up in any legal challenge”.
The five key changes proposed include establishing an “aggravated hate speech offence” for preachers and leaders who “promote violence”, increasing penalties, and making hate an “aggravating factor” in sentencing crimes for online threats and harassment.
Albanese announces tougher hate speech laws in wake of Bondi terror attack
Mr Albanese also flagged developing a “narrow” offence for “serious vilification based on race and/or advocating racial supremacy” and giving the minister for home affairs new powers to cancel or reject visas for those who “spread hate and division”.
Labor is also looking to establish a “regime” to list organisations whose leaders “engage in hate speech promoting violence or racial hatred”.
‘We’ve got to actually use them’
Deakin University Professor Greg Barton, who specialises in global Islamic politics, said tougher laws would help authorities when facing activity that was “lawful but awful”.
“We don’t want to police ideas, we want to focus on action and hate speech is a kind of action … violence in words can have an impact on a victim,” he said.
Read more on the Bondi Beach shooting:
“Some of the people most instrumental in radicalising others stay on the side of the law by doing things we can’t easily charge them with, but we know their notoriety comes from their hate speech.
“This could at least constrict their room to operate.”
Prof Barton said hate laws already “on the books” had been underutilised, but he interpreted Mr Albanese’s announcement as a sign of “willingness” to change that.
“We’ve got to actually use them,” he said.
Professor Barton said it was also important to avoid the “trap” of demonising immigrants or other groups people disagreed with.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) national security program director Dr John Coyne also said the government must tread with caution.
“The security agencies’ role is not to administer hate speech, extremist ideologies and thought policing, their job is to deal with extremist violence,” he said.
“Whatever comes through has to walk the delicate balance between freedom of expression and hate speech.”
Dr Coyne said complex hate speech issues had been brewing in Australia for some time, but noted Bondi was also a “catalytic point” for spurring governments into action.
“This has sort of come slow and quick at the same time,” he said.
Dr Coyne said certain behaviour had been “normalised” and things allowed to “slip”, and while this did not necessarily directly cause the terror attack, it pushed up the risk of social cohesion issues, which “undermines community safety”.
Prayer centre flagged
Pressure had been mounting on the Albanese government to use or bolster hate speech laws to shut down so-called “hate preachers” and extremist influences following Sunday’s Bondi terror attack, which killed 15 people.
The Coalition has called for all possible lawful avenues to be used to close the Bankstown prayer centre that one of the Bondi gunmen was associated with.
Liberal frontbencher James Paterson said tax investigations, charitable status, examination of leases on the property and hate speech legislation should all be considered as ways to stop organisations preaching hate.
This followed revelations alleged Bondi terrorist Naveed Akram, 24, who was charged on Wednesday with 59 offences, had links to Al Madina Dawah Centre in the Western Sydney suburb of Bankstown.
Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, ASIO, investigated Akram for six months in 2019. It is not known whether he was being monitored at any point after that.
Video shows Bondi gunman preaching to teens
Counterterrorism officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have revealed the investigation identified his links to controversial cleric Wisam Haddad, who in July was found by the Federal Court to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act over antisemitic lectures delivered at the Bankstown prayer centre.
Mr Haddad, who has never been charged with a terrorism offence, this week told the ABC through a lawyer he “vehemently denies any knowledge of or involvement in the shootings that took place at Bondi Beach”.
Videos posted online show Akram proselytising in mid-2019, when he was 17 years old, with a Street Dawah group linked to Mr Haddad.
Al Madina Dawah Centre was previously linked to Wisam Haddad. (Four Corners: Sissy Reyes)
Mr Haddad, through a statement shared by the Al Madina Group on Wednesday night, has claimed this group was “separate” to the Dawah Van project he began in 2022.
The Bankstown prayer centre attempted to distance itself from Mr Haddad earlier this week, sharing a post on Monday saying he was no longer in charge.
The post said the Al Madina Dawah Centre was under “new management”, known as the Al Madina Group.
The statement said the role of Mr Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, was “limited to occasional invitations as a guest speaker, including delivering lectures and, at times, Friday sermons”.
Former home affairs department secretary Mike Pezzullo has pointed to the Federal Court decision involving Mr Haddad as a path forward for the government on the issue of hate speech.
He said the case laid down some “very clear markers as to what vilification means” under the Racial Discrimination Act and the government should explore options to use this.
“I don’t think it should be left to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry [ECAJ] to get standing to get before a Federal Court judge to have those sermons down,” he said.
“I think the Commonwealth should work on how it gets standing, and that might mean an amendment to the Racial Discrimination Act.”
Former senior bureaucrat and ASIO boss Dennis Richardson has also called for hate speech laws to be used by authorities.
“There’s no point in having legislation relating to hate speech unless it is enforced, and in recent years it hasn’t been enforced with the rigour that it should be,” he said.
Mr Richardson also pointed to the ECAJ case against Mr Haddad as an example of how hate speech could be tackled.
Coalition, Greens would back law changes
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Mr Albanese also announced the government had formally adopted recommendations from a report by antisemitism special envoy Jillian Segal and launched a 12-month taskforce headed by David Gonski to ensure Australia’s education system “prevents, tackles and properly responds to antisemitism”.
Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive director Colin Rubenstein said the policy announcements by the government were “welcome” but “overdue”.
Humbled Albanese shifts gear as Jewish community’s anger builds
“The prime minister’s admission that he and his government did not do enough to combat antisemitism over the last two years is welcome, but comes too late,” he said.
Dr Rubenstein said AIJAC would work with the government to help implement the new measures, but wanted more action on a range of issues including a royal commission into antisemitism in Australia.
Both the Greens and Coalition have indicated they are willing to work constructively with Labor to pass changes to hate laws.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said she would look at any proposal put forward by the government as she unveiled her own four-point plan to tackle antisemitism and strengthen counterterror laws in Australia.
Ms Ley urged Mr Albanese to recall parliament immediately to deal with a range of proposals, including expanding the types of terror offences for which an application could be made to the court to strip a dual national of their Australian citizenship.
The Coalition also wants to make it an offence to assist the repatriation of anyone who has travelled to a terror area, such as the so-called ISIS brides who recently returned from refugee camps in Syria.
“The time for words has finished, the Albanese government must act decisively to keep them safe,” Ms Ley said.
Greens justice and foreign affairs spokesman Senator David Shoebridge said there was a case for “targeted measures” to address “genuine hate crimes linked to violence or the promotion of violence”.
“We have seen the dangers of racist vilification and dog whistling that compels people to violence,” he said.
Senator Shoebridge said there must also be scope in an open society for people to “freely criticise the actions of state actors that engage in acts of violence or discrimination”.
“Simply outlawing criticism is not an answer to complex international issues,” he said.
