Parliament recalled to pass hate speech, gun laws in response to Bondi attack

The government initially planned to pass a bill that included gun reform and tougher new laws punishing hate speech.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that the most controversial element of the original bill – provisions to tackle antisemitism with new anti-defamation laws – did not receive enough support in the Senate.

This forced the government to split the bill into two; one targeted hate speech and the other targeted gun reform.

Labour’s original bill included new powers to regulate a national arms buyback, toughen arms import rules, ban hate groups and make changes to immigration law that would allow the immigration minister to refuse or cancel visas if a person is associated with hate groups or makes hateful comments.

These elements will be preserved in the two bills that will be submitted to parliament starting from Monday.

But the government scrapped contentious anti-defamation provisions, including a new offense of inciting hatred, that various civil society groups warned would restrict freedom of expression.