Sussan Ley calls for focus on Islamic extremism and antisemitism
Updated ,first published
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said hate speech legislation drafted by the federal government in the wake of the Bondi terror attack should focus solely on Islamic extremism and antisemitism, despite calls for reforms to protect LGBTQ Australians.
Ley explained his position on the proposed legislation, once again demanding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese establish a Commonwealth royal commission into antisemitism and recall parliament to debate hate speech legislation; Labor appears set to announce both moves soon.
Ley told a press conference in Sydney: “I want to be very clear that tackling hate speech is not an afterthought to freedom of expression. There are clear issues that this legislation needs to address. It needs to target the threats that we face, and those threats are radical Islamic extremism and antisemitism. That’s what we want to see in this legislation.”
The government is preparing draft updated hate speech legislation in response to the December 14 attack and will send the measures out for public comment in the coming days. Home Secretary Tony Burke said the reforms would include two new offences: the targeted offense of “aggravated hate speech” against preachers and leaders who incite violence, and the federal offense of “serious racial libel”.
The opposition has offered support for tougher hate speech laws; This was a significant departure from previous stances where the Coalition had sought to water down parts of the Racial Discrimination Act. However, the Coalition has historically opposed the inclusion of LGBTQ people in Australia’s hate speech laws due to freedom of expression and religious protection concerns.
Asked if she would oppose legislation that includes LGBTQ or disabled Australians, Ley said: “It’s an appropriate question at the moment, but I really want to make my point very clear that this is not actually something we expect or should see in any legislation that comes before us.”
Ley said Albanese had failed to confront the core problem of the Bondi attack, which he said was “radical Islamic extremism”.
Peak bodies representing LGBTQ Australians and people living with disabilities have called on the government to extend the laws to their communities.
Independent MP Allegra Spend, whose electorate is home to the country’s largest Jewish community and also covers a large swath of Sydney’s LGBTQ nightlife areas, has supported broad-based hate speech laws that go beyond just protecting race.
Kate Geraghty
“Our priority must be the Jewish community because of the specific threat they face. But protecting others against hate does not diminish our protections for the Jewish community either,” Spending said in that imprint.
“It is not right to incite hatred against any group in our country… I do not understand why our Parliament says neo-Nazis cannot incite hatred against one group but allows them to use the same expressions to incite hatred against another group.”
Spender proposed changes to hate speech laws in the last term of parliament to include a serious offense of defamation, but the measure was blocked by Labor and the Coalition.
The latest attempt to resolve the decades-old debate over hate speech collapsed in the final term of parliament when then-attorney general Mark Dreyfus abandoned proposed criminal penalties for serious defamation on the basis of race, sexuality, gender, disability or religion after months of debate.
On Wednesday, Ley repeated Albanese’s demand that parliament be recalled immediately to pass hate speech reforms. Ley said on Tuesday parliament should return before Christmas, rejecting the prime minister’s claims that the legislation was complex and faced possible challenges from the Supreme Court.
“This is just a series of excuses from the prime minister, and we’ve come up with excuse after excuse to get real recognition and real understanding not only to the families of the victims but to the national crisis of antisemitism that we face,” Ley said.
Sources close to the government told this imprint on Tuesday that Albanese had opened the door to call the Commonwealth royal commission into antisemitism despite weeks of opposition from the government.
Parliament is expected to be recalled ahead of Australia Day ahead of schedule to debate hate speech laws.
On Tuesday, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wrote to Albanese demanding that the seven-day Senate suspension she received for wearing a burqa to parliament during last year’s final session week be lifted. Hanson said the ban would prevent him from debating new hate speech laws when parliament is recalled.
The Prime Minister cannot force the Senate and the letter was referred to the leader of the government’s upper house, Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Both offices declined to comment.
Both Albanese and Ley attended the funeral in Sydney of former NSW police officer Peter “Marzo” Meagher, who was killed in the Bondi attack on Wednesday.
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Nick Newling is the federal politics correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
