Jewish leaders warn weak hate speech laws won’t stop ‘ugly’ threats, chants and slurs

The peak body for Jewish Australians says Labor’s new hate crimes bill will not protect them from antisemitic slurs or threatening behaviour as tensions flare over the war in Gaza.

The government’s watered-down legislation tabled in parliament on Thursday includes criminal penalties for “directly threatening force or violence” towards minority groups.

But the bill, which will now be probed by the Senate, does not outlaw vilification or hate speech as the government originally promised.

Protests against the war in Gaza have led Jewish Australians to push the government to protect them from hate speech.Credit: Darrian Traynor

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said Labor’s plan fell short of needed reforms.

“Criminal prosecutions will still not be possible for the kind of ugly and menacing behaviour that occurred in October 2023 on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House when protesters chanted ‘f--- the Jews’ and other grossly antisemitic slogans,” Wertheim said.

“Nor will it be possible to prosecute hate preachers who have called for a ‘final solution’ against ‘the Jews’, and described Jews collectively as innately ‘bloodthirsty’, ‘treacherous’, ‘criminals’ and ‘monsters’.

“Hopefully, the Senate inquiry into the new bill will highlight these deficiencies and lead to further reforms. What our community has experienced over the last 12 months should never be allowed to happen again.”

The conflict in Gaza has reopened a debate over hate speech in Australia. There are rising concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia while protests against the war, including those at the Opera House and on university campuses, have sparked confusion over the legal lines between free speech and discrimination.

The Jewish community has sought stronger protections and the Coalition has piled pressure on Labor to take a firm stance against antisemitism, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pushing for stronger hate speech laws to protect Jewish Australians.

But the laws will not draw legal lines around what constitutes hate speech, and this masthead revealed criminal penalties for seriously vilifying minority groups were dropped as stakeholders disagreed over the right balance between free speech and strong protections.

Dreyfus on Thursday said robust discussions about diverse views and opinions were necessary for a vibrant and effective democracy.

“These thresholds are not always straightforward to define in legislation,” he said. “This bill has been carefully considered to target the most serious forms of hate speech, namely the urging or threatening of force or violence against groups.”

His changes add Australians with diverse sexualities, gender identities and sex characteristics to the groups protected by Commonwealth criminal laws prohibiting urging violence against minorities – which have never led to prosecutions – while creating the measure to outlaw threats of violence. They carry a maximum prison sentence of five to seven years.

“The new offences will address a gap in Commonwealth laws by providing law enforcement with the capacity to address conduct which involves a direct threat from one person to another,” Dreyfus said.

Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash said the Coalition would look at the laws carefully, given it had pushed for the government to deal with an “abhorrent rise in antisemitic attacks”.

“But the question isn’t just about the words on paper. It’s about how the government will police and enforce these laws,” Cash said.

LGBTQ groups were also dismayed by the scrapping of the anti-vilification law, which would have closed gaps where LGBTQ Australians are not currently protected under state legislation.

“These laws must cover hate speech and conduct as well as threats of violence ... We want a federal law that protects all of us. The patchwork of laws across the country have crucial gaps and are not fit for purpose,” Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown said.

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