The Australian government is touting tougher hate speech laws in the wake of the terrorist shooting rampage at Bondi Beach in Sydney last weekend, including higher penalties for promoting violence and plans for a watchlist of organizations that “promote violence or racial hatred.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government is working on legislation to crack down on groups and individuals who “spread hate, division, and radicalization.”
“We have seen a series of appalling attacks targeting Australia’s Jewish community. That culminated, on Sunday, in one of the worst acts of mass murder that this country has ever seen. It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge, much more,” Albanese said.
The Bondi Beach murderers were perpetrated by a father-and-son team of suspected jihadis, accused of slaughtering 15 people at a Hanukkah festival. Police found homemade Islamic State flags in a vehicle used by the killers.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett said her agency would increase its scrutiny of “hate preachers.” One of the features of the legislation pushed by Albanese is the establishment of a new criminal charge, “aggravated hate speech,” that will be applied to religious leaders who promote violence.
“Mr. Albanese said a special 12-month taskforce would be set up, and the nation’s home affairs minister would be granted new powers to cancel or refuse visas for people who spread hate and division in Australia, or who would do so if permitted to enter the country,” Sky News reported.
“Look, of course more could have always been done. Governments aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect,” Albanese said on Thursday, seeking to deflect criticism that his government has indulged Islamic radicalism and antisemitism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Albanese “emboldened those who menace Australian Jews” by unilaterally endorsing Palestinian statehood, even after Palestinian terrorists raped and murdered Jewish civilians in the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Opposition leader Sussan Ley rolled out a tougher plan to address hate speech than Albanese’s, including provisions such as zero funding to art and academic projects that support anti-Semitism, stripping citizenship from dual citizens who commit terrorist acts, and freezing immigration from “terrorist enclaves” such as Gaza.
“A show of genuine leadership cannot be delayed any further. The time for words is finished and the Albanese government must act decisively to keep Jewish Australians and all Australians safe,” Ley said on Thursday, demanding Albanese call Parliament back into session for a vote.
Ley said Albanese “failed to listen” and “failed to act” when ideas to protect Jewish Australians were advanced in the wake of the October 7, 2023, massacre.
“Two years ago, Jewish Australians told you more needed to be done and they told you what needed to be done to curb the rising tide of antisemitism, which has been allowed to fester,” she said in Sydney following the prime minister’s announcement. Now the package that the prime minister announced today is something that he should have announced two years ago,” she said.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said it was important to “shift the threshold” for hate speech, so that hateful and dangerous organizations could be more carefully scrutinized and penalized.
Burke did not name any of the organizations he had in mind, although Australian intelligence has recently pointed to groups such as the Islamist Hizb ut-Tharir and the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network as entities that “stretch the boundaries of legality without breaking them.”
The Associated Press (AP) noted on Thursday that fury against Albanese among the Australian Jewish community has grown so intense that he is not attending any of the funerals for the victims of the Bondi Beach massacre, even though other high-ranking officials are attending. Various local media reports suggested that either Albanese was not invited to the services, or he is avoiding them because he fears the reception he would get.
