‘Disappointed’ Jewish leaders call for compromise on hate speech laws after Labor backs down on bill | Bondi beach terror attack
Jewish leaders have warned Labor and the Coalition that their communities are at risk from the promotion of anti-Semitic hatred and called for a last-minute compromise to deliver tough new hate speech laws ahead of a special session of parliament.
New gun control measures, immigration powers and a plan to identify extremist organizations will be introduced with Greens support after Anthony Albanese agreed to share bills drafted in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.
But the most controversial elements of smear and intimidation have stalled due to strong opposition from the left and right of politics.
As both major parties continued to blame the other for the rushed process, Peter Wertheim, co-chairman of the Executive Council of Australian Jews, pleaded with the prime minister and opposition leader Sussan Ley to immediately strike a deal on new protections.
“We are disappointed that there will be no serious libel offense and are very concerned that this will send the message that deliberately promoting racial hatred is not considered serious enough to constitute a criminal offence,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“How much worse do things have to get before we, as a nation, finally have the courage to tackle the deliberate promotion of anti-Semitic hatred that is the heart of the problem?”
Ley met with the Coalition leadership group on Saturday and was preparing to chair a shadow cabinet meeting on Sunday night.
Shadow home secretary Jonathon Duniam said Coalition MPs would consider what measures they could support through amendments.
“The truth is that the government has completely covered up this matter,” he said on Sunday.
“What we are doing now should have happened weeks ago; together with the other parties in parliament they could have worked with all parties, all communities (Jewish community, Muslim community, firearms representatives) to get this done correctly.
“That’s where they failed, and that’s why we’re going through this 11th hour process.”
The gun laws would provide the biggest buyback since the Port Arthur massacre, toughen rules and penalties for arms imports and create new offenses for online material related to the production of firearms and explosives.
Intelligence agencies, including Asio, will also be required to carry out criminal record checks when individuals apply for a firearms licence.
The government will also have the power to ban groups including neo-Nazi organizations and Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir, and cancel or refuse visas to extremist people wishing to come to Australia.
Labor’s Senate leader – finance minister Katy Gallagher – challenged Ley to follow through on his offer of support in the hours after 15 people were killed at a Jewish Hanukkah event on December 14.
“This is a day when he must unite his party and put Australians first,” Gallagher said on Sunday.
“Australians want to see unity. They want to see agreement. They want to see Parliament working together and that’s how we’re approaching the session.”
However, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (Afic) condemned the rushed process after Albanese published the draft law last week and said a pause on the hate speech provisions was necessary.
Rateb Jneid, chairman of Afic, warned that the proposed rules on designating hate organizations were dangerous and called for the legislation to be redesigned.
“When the power to outlaw organizations is based on secret evidence and political discretion, it ceases to be about law and becomes ideology and policy with the state power behind it,” Jneid said.
“A democratic country should not define or punish hate in this way.”
Parliament will hear condolences for the victims of the ISIS-inspired attack on Monday before two bills are debated by MPs on Tuesday.
