Wentworth MP Allegra Spender calls for strengthened hate speech laws to cover serious vilification

A Sydney MP, whose electorate has faced a spate of anti-Semitic attacks, has called for Australia to toughen its hate speech laws, saying “words matter”.

Teal independent Allegra Spender will move to strengthen Australian hate speech laws to include “serious vilification” amid growing levels of anti-Semitism in Australia.

The Wentworth MP, whose own electorate has been subject to anti-Semitic graffiti and attacks, said her proposed amendments to the Hate Crimes Bill would be modelled on Western Australia’s racial vilification laws.

The WA laws have been active since 2004 and carry a maximum punishment of 14 years jail.

She said the creation of a serious vilification offence would create “guardrails” against “the provocation and the whipping up of animosity and hatred in our society,” with her amendments supported by Equality Australia and Jewish community groups.

“Words matter. We are a country that values our cohesion, values our diversity, but words matter, and they matter in terms of what it leads to in the future, words are the start of many things that we don’t want as a country,” she said.

Allegra Spender called for serious vilification to be listed as an offence under the Hate Crimes Bill. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

The push comes as the government has announced its own amendments to the Hate Crimes Bill to create new offences for acts which urge violence or threats of violence at protected groups and their associates.

It will also list “disability” as a protected attribute like age, gender identity, race and religious belief.

The report’s third recommendation, calling for the establishment of a “national hate crimes database”, was agreed by national cabinet in January.

Ms Spender said while she believed the government’s amendments to the Bill made laws “better than where we are right now,” she urged further action.

“This is a moment to have this conversation about how much further should we go,” she said.

“This is a national conversation.”

A council worker removes anti-Semitic graffiti outside a house next door to the Mount Sinai College in Maroubra. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Earlier in the parliament, Ms Spender moved a motion deploring the “appalling and unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism across Australia,” and called on the parliament to “unequivocally” condemn the behaviour in all its forms.

“The message today is to say those people who hate on the basis of religion, who perpetrate crimes on the basis of religion, do not represent the Australian community,” she said.

“They are criminals. Plain and simple. And they must be treated as such.

“They must be charged, tried, and sentenced in a way that demonstrates to all Australians: that this behaviour has no place in our country.”