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Political support for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s new hate speech laws has collapsed, as the Greens announced they will join in the Coalition in opposing the Labor’s reforms designed to curb antisemitism following the Bondi attack.
“It’s clear that the amount of negotiations and legal analysis required to produce a good outcome can’t be done in the extremely tight timeframe the government has created,” Greens leader Larissa Waters said on Saturday.
“It may be simpler to start afresh with a bill that aims to protect everyone from hatred and discrimination.”
Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi and senator David Shoebridge announced the party would be unequivocally opposing Labor’s hate speech reform on Saturday. Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong
However, the minor party has joined the opposition in publicly rejecting the bill. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley declared on Thursday that the reforms were nearly unsalvageable, even before her shadow cabinet debated the bill.
The bill includes new powers to ban hate groups, tightened visa rules, and a contentious new offence for promoting hatred that various civil society groups believe will hurt free speech.
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It also sets up a national gun buyback, which the Greens on Saturday called to be split into a separate bill, which they would support. The government has resisted calls to make this move, and Nationals MPs have campaigned against gun reform.
The Greens want Labor’s proposed anti-vilification laws to be broadened from protecting just racial hatred – designed to protect Jews after Bondi – to encompass LGBTQ and religious protections.
A broad range of civil rights groups, legal experts and transparency advocates have criticised the bill, claiming it was too rushed, too broad, and might have a chilling effect on public discussion about issues such as terrorism and migration that could offend certain racial groups.
The Greens are also concerned that Labor wanted to curb the pro-Palestinian protest movement, which uses chants such as “globalise the intifada” and “river to the sea”. There have been debates about whether these slogans encourage violence.
Ley said she would go to parliament next week and put forward a separate package of proposals because Labor’s attempt was confused.
The government has recalled parliament early and has said it must pass its reforms by Tuesday. It needs the support of the Senate for its bill and would depend on the backing of either the Liberals or the Greens to enact their hate speech reforms into legislation.
Albanese has said his plan came in response to community outcry, and praised the Greens and teal MP for Bondi Allegra Spender for their engagement on his reforms.
“There were requests across the board, not just from parliamentarians, but from community members as well, for us to bring forward this action,” Albanese said on Friday.
“[Greens leader] Larissa Waters has engaged constructively as the leader of the Greens, as has Allegra Spender.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim, a close associate of the prime minister, said the major parties must unite in the national interest and that Labor needed to accept a Coalition request to get rid of a proposed religious text exemption in the draft law.
“If this all falls over, it means we’re sending a signal to the world that we just had the worst terror attack in our history and we can’t decide what to do about it,” he told this masthead.
However, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher – whom Albanese, a Catholic, meets regularly – on Friday co-signed a letter to Albanese with top Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and Scientology leaders asking him to shelve the anti-vilification laws because they could crimp religious expression.
“A rushed legislative process of this nature undermines confidence, increases the risk of unintended consequences, and does not assist community unity or social cohesion,” the letter said.
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