How effective will Labor’s hate speech, gun laws be for Australia?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australians will be safer after gun and hate reforms were passed in a late-night emergency session of parliament this week to pass legislation following the Bondi Beach massacre.
But the government failed to achieve all its aims, abandoning racial vilification laws when it failed to gain support for the measures from the Coalition or the cross-committee.
“Australians are safer because of the passage of these bills… we have stronger laws today than we had yesterday,” he said.
So how effective will these laws be and what obstacles will they face?
What are the new gun laws in Australia?
The government has initiated a gun buyback, but the effectiveness of the plan depends on states’ participation. Federal law cannot limit the number of guns a citizen can own; therefore, states must impose a limit on gun ownership in order to require the surrender of guns.
NSW quickly introduced legislation in December following the assault involving a firearm head restraint, but other states have yet to follow suit.
Albanese had initially struck a deal to split the cost of the buyback 50-50 with the states, but Tasmania and the Northern Territory have since expressed concerns about the cost and Queensland has refused to participate, calling its effectiveness into question.
The changes will also allow federal intelligence agencies to better share information with states and territories when issuing firearms licenses and further restrict arms imports.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the Bondi attack would have a direct impact because the murdered gunman, Sajid Akram, had six guns despite not being an Australian citizen.
What are the new hate laws and which groups will be banned?
A new “hate group” list has been created for organizations that advocate hate crimes but do not meet the threshold to be considered a terrorist organization; Its leaders face 15 years in prison.
The home secretary has been given the power to list groups that publicly promote hatred in a way that would cause a reasonable target person to be “intimidated, fear harassment or violence, or fear for their safety”.
The Minister should seek the advice of the head of Australia’s spy agency. ASIOConsult the attorney general and inform the opposition leader of the decision.
Burke put extremist groups like Hizb ut Tahrir in his sights, and the legislation took immediate effect as he announced the disbandment of the neo-Nazi Nationalist Socialist Network.
But concerns have been raised about how broad the powers could be, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong was questioned repeatedly on Wednesday about their scope and whether pro-Palestinian groups who say the State of Israel is committing genocide in Gaza could be caught.
“This is not a law designed to suppress differences of opinion and freedom of expression,” Wong said. ABC Radio National. “What it aims to do is to destroy organizations that try to incite hate crimes.
“Freedom of expression is important in our country, but with the rise of antisemitism and the wake of the worst terrorist attack this country has ever seen on Australian soil, I really think we need to continue to strengthen our response to hate and those who seek to spread hate in our society.”
Another hurdle is that the main premise of the original proposed laws, the offense of racial libel, which would have made it illegal to incite hatred against people because of their race, color or national or ethnic origin, was abandoned after the Coalition and the Greens said they would not support it.
How effective will these laws be?
It is unclear how effective the other provisions will be, given that they will not be supported by the lower threshold for what constitutes hate speech. Burke lamented the watering down of the laws, saying they were not as strong as he had hoped.
He stated that the most important test for the reforms will be whether they will be valid in court.
“Everything I do in this portfolio is challenged in the courts. Absolutely everything.” he told Sky News. “As soon as you become home secretary, you become the most prosecuted person in Australia.”
The home secretary was also given greater power to refuse or revoke visas of people who espouse hatred. Other changes include increased penalties for hate speech and a new aggravated charge for “hate preachers” (religious or spiritual leaders who advocate or threaten violence) who now face 12 years in prison.
The ban on hate symbols has been strengthened, penalties for adults who seek to radicalize children have become harsher, and courts will need to more seriously consider penalties for offenders motivated by extremism.
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Brittany Busch is the federal politics correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
