Labor’s firearms, hate speech reforms expected to pass parliament
Home Secretary Tony Burke said Labor was “really close” to a deal with the Coalition to pass hate speech legislation through parliament.
The reforms, drafted in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, aim to crack down on anti-Semitism and criminalize hate groups and require support from the Coalition or the Greens to pass the upper house.
On Tuesday, Mr Burke told Sky News that talks with the Liberal Party leadership were “going really well” and that talks would continue ahead of the vote later that day. “I don’t think we’ve got it all figured out, but I think we’re really close,” he said.
“So actually the laws won’t be as strong as the government wants, and that’s been public for a while, but importantly, it will still include the strongest hate speech laws Australia has ever had.”
The breakthrough comes just days after Opposition Leader Sussan Ley labeled the original legislation “unsalvageable” and confirmed the Greens would not support the omnibus bill, which initially includes both firearms and hate speech reforms.
This forced Labor to uncouple firearms legislation from immigration and hate speech amendments, creating two bills, while scrapping a contentious racial libel offense, garnering support from large voting blocs and clearing a path for the legislation through the Senate.
‘Long way to keep the Jewish community safe’
Independent MP Allegra Harcayici “strongly expects” Labor to pass both firearms and hate speech legislation.
Ms Spending, whose Wentworth electorate includes Bondi, told the ABC after speaking to Anthony Albanese the night before that passing the legislation was important to help keep the Jewish community safe.
“I spoke to the prime minister about this last night and that’s definitely what I took away from that conversation,” he said.
Ms Spend admitted she thought there were “big pieces missing” from Labor’s proposed reforms, adding: “I think it’s important that Parliament comes together today and passes some legislation.”
“But honestly, this goes a long way to keeping the Jewish community safe, bringing our country together, and repairing what we’ve lost,” he said.
Ms Harcama confirmed she would continue to enforce anti-defamation measures, saying there was “a lot of work we still need to do”.
“When we look at Bondi it was a crime of violent extremism, okay, in this case it was violent Islamic extremism.
“So… how do we get to the bottom of stopping this? That’s where the libel laws are. That’s actually what they’re about.”
