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The premier said she would also take her existing anti-vilification laws back before parliament to remove the current requirement that the director of public prosecutions consent before a charge of criminal vilification is laid by police.
This requirement was not in the original form the bill, but was later added to ensure the Allan government’s laws were passed with crossbench support.
Allan said she would bring the laws back to parliament to reverse this change and ensure the restriction was removed.
“The anti-vilification laws that pass through the Victorian parliament earlier this year are already Australia’s strongest, and our proposals today will make them even stronger,” she said.
Under the second stage of the government’s plan, police will be given new special powers to stop or move on a protest if it falls within a certain time after a designated terrorist event.
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The proposed laws would be similar to those set to be introduced in NSW, which give the police commissioner the power to ban protests for three months after a terrorist attack.
The Victorian solicitor-general is set to complete advice on these laws in January.
Allan committed to a review of Victoria’s gun laws to ensure they meet modern challenges, to be undertaken by former police commissioner Ken Lay, as the third step of her plan.
Under her fourth step, the premier released the government’s strategy for preventing and countering violent extremism and pledged to appoint a commissioner to implement its findings. The strategy will focus on preventing extremism at a community level.
Finally, Allan said her government would be accountable for a “pathway to normal” that sets long-term goals for driving out antisemitism.
These goals will be developed by a council of eminent Victorians and cover the government, community and private sectors.
Victoria will also commit to working with the state’s cultural institutions to educate them about antisemitism. The premier said this would go further than the recommendations of the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism that were already being implemented.
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