Pressure mounts on Labor to investigate law amid hate crime concerns
Updated ,first published
A NSW Parliamentary inquiry will be held to investigate whether the state needs a human rights law, amid concerns about antisemitism and LGBTQ hate laws being “Band-Aid solutions”.
The investigation comes as the Minns government introduced new offenses to parliament and increased penalties for gay hate crimes after a rise in homophobic attacks on gay and bisexual men in Sydney. Reported incidents include attackers luring men through dating apps, with attacks often filmed for social media.
Crossbenchers, including Greens and independent MPs Jacqui Scruby, Alex Greenwich, Joe McGirr, Michael Regan and Greg Piper, have jointly written to Prime Minister Chris Minns, urging Labor to support the public inquiry into the Human Rights Act launched by Newtown MP Jenny Leong last year.
“At a time when we see so much hate and so much division in our community, it is clear that we must stop offering Band-Aids and tailored solutions to the level of crisis our communities are facing,” Leong said.
“A human rights bill for NSW would be an incredibly powerful tool to deliver the kind of justice, equality, dignity and respect our community has been crying out for.”
Unlike Queensland, Victoria and the ACT, NSW does not have a human rights law. The legislation would require parliament to consider how laws affect human rights and give courts the ability to assess whether laws comply with human rights standards.
A 2024 inquiry in South Australia recommended that a law be enacted, but the state’s Labor government took no action to do so.
Minns went into the 2023 election with a commitment to consult with the community on possible legislation to protect human rights, but has yet to follow through on that commitment.
The government referred the bill to an inquiry with cross-examination support on Wednesday. The committee will hold a public consultation and prepare a report with recommendations to parliament.
Former Labor prime minister Bob Carr last year abandoned his long-standing opposition to human rights legislation and said he would not oppose a state-based law given existing challenges to civil liberties. His shift was seen as significant and a signal to the wider Labor movement that it was time to rethink its position.
Labor upper house MP Stephen Lawrence, who has argued against the prime minister on protest laws and a crackdown on hate speech, said on Tuesday that some of the government’s reforms might look different if a human rights law were in place.
“It’s hard to see what’s happened… in parliament over the last three years and not come to the view that we desperately need a human rights bill,” Lawrence said.
“If we had a human rights bill when the terrible events happened, Bondi, the anti-protest legislation was passed later. I think it’s very hard to imagine that we, as a parliament, would have passed the same bill.”
Following the UN report, the government passed a new law to prevent homophobic attacks, primarily against gay and bisexual men. reporter and more recently the ABC revealed a worrying trend in attacks being shared on social media.
A new offense will be created for criminals who deceive their victims under false pretenses, including on dating apps. “Publish and boast” crimes, which target criminals who brag about their crimes on social media, will be expanded to include serious assaults and robberies, including those committed against the LGBTQ community.
Threatening or encouraging violence on the basis of sexual orientation or gender will be punishable by imprisonment from three to a maximum of five years.
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley received a landmark report from Justice John Sackar four months ago into protecting hate speech against vulnerable communities, but has yet to make the report public or explain the government’s response.
Greenwich, who strongly supports reforms to protect the LGBTQ community, said the government should release the Sackar report.
“We need to see this document and make sure that legislative reform is done accordingly,” Greenwich said.
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Jessica McSweeney is a reporter covering city affairs and state politics for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
