Opposition Leader Sussan Ley described the PM’s hate and extremism bill as “pretty unsalvageable”. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Labor’s hate speech and gun reform legislation in response to the Bondi terror attack looks doomed as it stands, with both the Coalition and the Greens saying they will not back it in its current form.
Anthony Albanese has recalled Federal Parliament so the hate and extremism bill can be passed in both Houses early next week.
But while the Prime Minister has the numbers in the House of Representatives, he needs the support of the Opposition or the Greens to get the legislation through the Senate.
On Thursday (15 January), Sussan Ley made it clear the Coalition was not likely to give the bill its support.
“The Opposition will continue to scrutinise this legislation carefully but from what we have seen so far, it looks pretty unsalvageable,” the Opposition Leader said.
“As it stands, the government’s proposal is half-baked and Australians deserve far better.”
Ms Ley said the Coalition has “serious concerns” about the legislation, saying it does not address the “real issues” that gave rise to the Bondi attack.
She said the legislation hadn’t even stood the test of scrutiny from the snap parliamentary inquiry called this week.
The Opposition Leader said the bill didn’t address Islamic extremism and ISIS influence, or address the rise of antisemitism and the associated terrorist threat in Australia.
“What the bill does is clumsily try to address hate speech and control firearms,” Ms Ley said.
“To date, the legislation has not stood the basic scrutiny as part of the parliamentary inquiry that is ongoing and has taken place over the last couple of days.
“Now having heard evidence from the department, legal experts and the community, it is clear the legislation protects hate preachers by making exemptions for things written in religious texts but fails to define what those religious texts may be.
“It risks criminalising speech that has nothing to do with antisemitism or radical Islam. It sets up a gun buyback scheme that we don’t even know if the states will support.
“These are not minor drafting issues. They go to whether these laws will work at all. Now there are two tests for this legislation.
“The first, eradicate antisemitism and the second, crack down on radical Islamic extremism. The laws achieve neither of these things.
“There’s more than 500 pages of legislation and the term ‘radical Islam’ is not mentioned once. If the Prime Minister can’t name the problem, he can’t tackle it.”
The Coalition wants terms such as “globalise the intifada” and “from the river to the sea”, which are regarded by the Jewish community as inciting antisemitism, to be banned.
And it also has huge problems backing gun reforms.
The Greens agree with a gun buyback scheme the Prime Minister wants introduced, but the Senate’s balance-power-party says it will not be supporting the omnibus bill as it stands either.
Greens leader Larissa Waters said on Thursday that the legislation could be misused if passed as it was drafted.
“The Greens have put our concerns to the government about this legislation and we won’t support it in its current form,” Senator Waters said.
“This is complex legislation that may have unintended consequences. We’ve only had a couple of days to consider it and we need to do our due diligence.
“We can’t combat hate if we don’t combat it for everyone. Excluding protections for people on the basis of religion ignores the fact both antisemitism and islamophobia are increasing in our communities.
“These laws should protect everyone from hatred and discrimination, including the LGBTQ+ and disability communities.
“We need to ensure these laws cannot be weaponised to shut down legitimate political protest.
“Labor must make it crystal clear that criticism of Israel’s actions, just like those of Russia, China or Australia, will not be criminalised.
“The Bondi tragedy was made possible by gun laws that are no longer fit for purpose.
“The Greens support gun safety, including a national gun buyback and a national firearms registry, as the bare minimum to ensure we never see a tragedy of this magnitude in Australia again.”
The Prime Minister said his government had been engaging with the Greens on proposed amendments to the bill, but he was stunned at the Opposition’s position as it was the Coalition who demanded parliament was returned early to deal with it.
“We are up for engaging with the Coalition. But people have dismissed this legislation that they called for, without even reading it,” Mr Albanese said.
