Legal challenge looms for contentious anti-hate laws
New hate speech laws face possible legal challenges from a prominent neo-Nazi after finally passing parliament.
The legislation, passed late on Tuesday night, aims to restrict the ability of hardline radical groups to incite violence against people based on their beliefs, while also making it easier for extremists to be deported and prevented from entering Australia.
The document was prepared following the anti-Semitic terrorist attack on Bondi Beach on December 14, which left 15 people dead.
The government’s bill was passed with the support of most Liberals in a late-night Senate session, but the National Assembly voted against it after expressing concerns about the legislation’s potential impacts on freedom of expression.
Liberal senator Alex Antic also took to the floor to oppose the bill, while NT senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, sitting in the Liberal party hall, abstained.
Thomas Sewell, former head of the neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network, is raising money to challenge the law.
“This will be a landmark case in protecting the rights of all Australians to engage politically and organize for generations to come,” the fundraising page says.
“I have spoken to highly respected law firms who wish to take the case to the High Court of Australia and challenge existing and proposed anti-free speech legislation.”
As of Tuesday evening, Sewell had raised almost $130,000 for his cause.
The National Socialist Network, which has joined increasingly publicized demonstrations for a white Australia, has vowed to disband over the legislation.
Jewish groups have welcomed the hate crimes bill as a first step in eliminating inflammatory language but believe it could go further.
Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler said measures to shut down hate groups, which would likely include the National Socialist Network and radical Islamist organization Hizb ut Tahrir, were a good move.
“These are very, very malicious organizations that have been promoting extremist ideology and anti-Semitism for years, and have done so in a very careful way around the law,” he told AAP.
In order for the bill to pass parliament, the government had to remove a number of harsh provisions that could create new crimes of racial hatred. Mr Leibler said Labor should reconsider the issue.
“We are about to set up a royal commission into anti-Semitism. There is no doubt that the royal commission will investigate some of these issues,” he said.
“As a society, I don’t think we can give up on the possibility of strengthening hate speech laws.”
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