Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged the Coalition to support the government’s hate speech laws or risk them being abandoned forever.
On Monday, parliament returned two weeks ahead of schedule to pass a suite of reforms in response to the Bondi terror attack.
The government was forced to split its sweeping omnibus bill — encompassing gun laws, hate crimes, migration changes — and abandoned racial vilification provisions on Saturday, after it became clear neither the Coalition nor the Greens supported the changes.
Late last week, Opposition leader Sussan Ley said the reforms had been rushed, “half-baked” and “unsalvageable” in their current form.
Firing back, Albanese has demanded the Coalition explain why it will not support laws recommended by antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal in her plan to combat antisemitism, released last July.
“It’s up to the Coalition in particular to explain why it is that they said they wanted the report implemented in full,” he told ABC radio Melbourne.
“And when they’ve had the opportunity, [they’ve] walked away from it, just like it’s up to them to explain why it is they call for parliament to be resumed and pass all these laws before December.”
Asked whether it was “tomorrow or nothing” for the hate speech laws, Albanese answered, “correct”.
Albanese said he wouldn’t introduce laws that clearly don’t have the majority support in the Senate only to see them defeated.
The introduction of new legislation follows the tragic terror attack in Bondi last month, where two individuals, alleged to be father and son, Sajid and Naveed Akram, carried out a shooting near a Hanukkah event, resulting in the deaths of 15 people.
Prime Minister Albanese has called on Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to clarify her stance on not supporting the proposed reforms, especially those targeting hate speech as recommended by the antisemitism envoy. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
The proposed reforms include measures to intensify security checks for firearm acquisition and the creation of a national gun buyback program. These proposals are anticipated to gain approval with the backing of the Greens in the upper house.
The bill originally proposed making it a crime to “publicly promote or incite hatred” or “disseminate ideas of superiority or hatred towards another person or group of people based on their race, colour, or national or ethnic origin”.
The new legislation is scheduled for introduction in the Senate on Tuesday.
The expansion was pursued by the Greens and had the support of Jewish groups as well as frontbenchers Anne Aly, Mark Butler and Josh Burns. It also had the support of Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, who has advocated for the changes for more than a year.
However, the prime minister has made it clear he will not seek to expand the hate speech protections beyond Jewish Australians.
“No, we accept that there’s not a majority for the reforms that we were pursuing.”
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