Jail time, $11,000 fines under new laws criminalising hate speech in NSW

Vilification laws aimed at combating a spate of antisemitism across Sydney will be introduced to state parliament on Tuesday, but the Minns government will ignore calls from within Labor to include the LGBTQ community within the reforms.

Intentionally inciting racial hatred will become a criminal offence, rather than civil, under the proposed changes. But in response to freedom of speech concerns, freedom of political communication will be protected with the laws drafted to apply to specific conduct, as will religious teachings, with an exception included for “referencing religious texts”.

New hate speech laws will be introduced this week to address a spate of attacks against the Jewish community.Credit: Rhett Wyman

The revamped laws come despite Rainbow Labor, the Greens and Sydney MP Alex Greenwich all criticising the exclusion of LGBTQ communities from the draft laws. Last week, the NSW government introduced a number of reforms including creating a new offence for displaying a Nazi symbol on or near a synagogue.

The rush to introduce new laws comes after a summer when antisemitic violence and graffiti have flared in Sydney, including attacks on childcare centres, schools and synagogues.

Two Sydney nurses are being investigated over alleged threats against Israeli patients, but are yet to be charged. Minns declined to comment on whether their comments would qualify as hate speech under the new laws, or if he was surprised NSW Police were yet to bring criminal charges.

“It puts me in a very difficult situation to classify [the nurses’ comments] like that, given the possibility of it being in front of the courts, and I’m just not going to get in the way of that inquiry,” he said on Monday.

Nurses Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh in Max Veifer’s video.

Under the Crimes Amendment (Inciting Racial Hatred) Bill 2025, the incitement of hatred must contain four elements: it must be a public act, incite hatred, be intentional and must be based on race. Under the Crimes Act, a public act is considered “any form of communication to the public”, including communicating through social media.

The bill will establish a new section, 93ZAA of the Crimes Act, with a maximum penalty for an individual of two years’ imprisonment, fines of up to $11,000, or both, while corporations could face fines of $55,000.

Attorney-General Michael Daley said: “Racial hatred is unacceptable – and under this new legislation, it will be a crime to publicly and intentionally incite racial hatred.

“It is important for members of our community to be protected from conduct that causes them to fear for their safety, or to fear harassment, intimidation or violence.”

The move comes despite the NSW Law Reform Commission explicitly recommending against the change in a review of 93Z in September last year. The report noted similar laws in WA and Victoria – an argument made by the premier in favour of reform – but said 93Z should not be reformed “simply for the sake of consistency”, particularly given the risk of unintended consequences.

“Expanding criminal vilification offences to cover the incitement of hatred (or similar conduct) could have negative consequences, including upsetting the ‘balance’ of rights and disproportionately impacting certain groups,” the report stated.

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