Jewish leaders call for urgent change as Vic’s hate speech laws deemed not fit for purpose

Victoria’s most prominent Jewish leaders have written an urgent letter to the state government calling for a change to proposed new hate speech laws, as the Coalition shapes up to oppose the controversial legislation.

Presidents of four of Australia’s most prominent Jewish organisations, including Jeremy Leibler, have written an urgent letter to the state government. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

Four of Victoria’s most prominent Jewish leaders have written an urgent letter to the state government calling for a major change to proposed new hate-speech laws, as the Coalition shapes up to oppose the controversial legislation.

Presidents of four of Australia’s most prominent Jewish organisations, Jeremy Leibler, Philip Zajac, Elyse Shachna and Daniel Aghion KC, have urged the Allan government to remove a political defence from the proposed laws, fearing it will become a “catch-all defence” that will “seriously weaken” the reforms.

They said tougher laws were “more urgent than ever” as the Jewish community faces an “explosion of anti-Semitism, with unprecedented vilification, discrimination and threats to our security”.

“Sadly, in Victoria, there have only been a handful of successful criminal prosecutions and complaints for hate speech in the last twenty years,” they wrote.

Jeremy Leibler. Picture: Yusuke Sato

Anti-Semitic graffiti appeared at the University of Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

“That is not because there is no hate speech in Victoria – it is because our hate speech laws are not fit for purpose.”

“However, while we welcome the proposed vilification reforms in the Bill, we are concerned by its proposal that extreme and criminal conduct which incites very serious hatred should be legal if it is done for a ‘genuine political purpose’, and by the proposed timeline for the implementation of the civil provisions of the Bill.”

The leaders said the proposed offence should only be used to capture a “very narrow subset of extreme forms of criminal conduct that incites hatred” and therefore there should be “no excuse” for someone engaging in such behaviour for a “political purpose.”

“And if the proposed defence is legislated, the Bill will in effect transform the accused in any prosecution for hate speech into a cause célèbre – the courtroom will become a platform for extreme racial hatred and its supposed political ‘justifications’,” they added.

The elected leaders, who have worked with the state government for the past five years to strengthen protections, noted the defence was not included in earlier consultations.

Originally published as Jewish leaders call for urgent change as Vic’s hate speech laws deemed not fit for purpose