Australia's New Hate Speech Laws Most Stringent in World

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The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026, unveiled by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday in response to the December 14 Bondi Beach terror attack, proposes a raft of changes to security, migration and speech laws.

Section 5 of the bill would make it a crime to publicly promote or incite racial hatred of another person or group “because of the race, colour or national ethnic origin of the target or target group”, or “disseminate ideas of superiority over or hatred of another person, or group of persons, because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the target or target group”.

The offence would require that “the conduct would, in all the circumstances, cause a reasonable person who is the target, or a member of the target group, to be intimidated, to fear harassment or violence, or to fear for their safety”.

It is “immaterial” whether the target or members of the target group “actually are distinguished by the particular race, colour or national or ethnic origin”, the conduct “actually results in hatred”, or the conduct “actually results in any person feeling intimidated, fearing harassment or violence, or fearing for their safety”, the draft bill states.

The provision defines “conduct in a public place” as when a person “communicates to the public using any form of communication … including speaking, writing, displaying notices, graffiti, playing of recorded material, broadcasting and communicating through social media and other electronic methods”.

“Note: Public place is defined in the Dictionary,” it adds.

“To avoid doubt, a person may engage in conduct in a public place even if the conduct occurs on private land.”

Among the proposals in the 144-page bill is a framework for the Attorney-General to list “prohibited hate groups”, making membership, recruitment and funding criminal offences.

It would also create aggravated offences for religious or spiritual leaders who incite hatred and tighten visa regulations, allowing cancellations based on public statements that disseminate racial or ethnic superiority.

A prohibited hate group must have advocated, engaged in or planned to engage in a hate crime because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the target or target group.

An example in the legislation is “inciting anti-Semitic hatred against Jews in the public place where a reasonable member of the Jewish community would be intimidated or fear violence”.

Not surprisingly Trump appointee, senior US State Department official Sarah Rogers, has called out Australia what the US views as attacks on free speech. “A statute that imprisons you for calling to deport jihadist extremists — but provides safe harbour if you *are* a jihadist extremist — would be deeply perverse,” Ms Rogers wrote on X.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/onli ... 02448a416e

Under the provisions of this bill , when is the Australian secret police going to kidnapp Rumpy of charge him with the repeated violations of this bill on a international levels . He has referred to major groups over in the USA in some extremely disrepuatable manners. Creating harm against them as well. making it public knowledge of his opinions regarding these groups .. And he has used foul language repeatedly while holding a public office. re:those groups.
On a side note: It appears the nutterisms from the Us has spread to Australia as well now. And using a Law to bias the treatment of any one group over another is its own version of hate speech, I am believing.? Recall Allowamese? take the Rumpy with him.
Am so sorry to hear of this for the Australian people overall. Corporate Citizens should not be confused with human beings.

Good. Maybe now Australia can wind up back on my list of countries I'd actually want to visit.

The US needs laws like Australia, Germany, and Sweden to combat hate speech and bullying.

Well good.

We are seeing here in the U.S.A what can happen when there are no laws against hate speech.

Now let's hope they're actually used to punish hate instead of just being used to stifle criticism of Israel.

It's actually because of Australian government inaction over a rise in antisemitic hate speech post Oct 7 that Jewish groups say lead to acts like the mass shooting at Bondi actually forcing Albanese to push through this legislation.

While you and I can make a distinction between civilian jews living peacefully in Canada and Netanyahu/IDF, the people who dislike jews conflate extreme Zionism or IDF atrocities with some "holy mission" to kill innocent little jewish children and mothers and its the usual suspects, fundamentalist muslims or white supremacists.

the rise in anti-Israel protests has emboldened many to use language that is clearly antisemitic leading to a rise in attacks on Jews in Australia. the data supports this link. Between Oct 7 2023 and September 2024, there were more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in Australia, three times the figure for the same period a year earlier, according to a report in December by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the Australian affiliate of the World Jewish Congress.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/aust ... rcna192173

Good.

So , am not knocking the anti hate ideas...and perhaps when you start censoring one kind of language , the idea
or concepts of language, being just that ! As language . Not actions .So where do you stop censoring one type of language or free expression versus another . Am quite sure Mr Rump of the USA would love to find ways to punish anyone who spoke ill of the Republican party as a whole . Or any of his appointed or hired goons .
But Not to discount the idea of influencing people? , But Actions are far different than Words . Am if a person is not capable of exercising their own good judgement in the face of ,BS that comes their way.. . Growing up would normally include abilities of discernment , If not ? Those Individuals peoples communication does need to be censored maybe
And if punished perhaps a forced schooling that include maturation lessons ? Just my own humble opinion.

Problem is those on the fringes who translate words into action.

So much for the ideas of discernment . There has always been fringers,and the question maybe how to deal with them as opposed to just telling people to shut up. Public opinion , ideally should not translate into public violence .
At what point do you , or whatever the topic maybe ? Put controls on free speech . Where does it begin? or where does it end? It sets a bad precedent, i think, Next , what if speaking out against government oppression. become illegal.
It is the physical actions that need addressing . Using anti semetic comments as a mask,to start putting the controls
on free speech, however the powers that be couch the idea .Is the groundwork for something far more insidious down the road.. Evelyn Beatrice Hall, famous English Author is Quoted as saying :" I maynot approve of What you say, but I will defend to the Death for your Right to Say it."

One reason we have no such laws here is that the lobbyists and influencers from the religious right/Christian nationalists claim that certain Bible verses (Leviticus 18:22, 1 Corinthians 14:34, etc) would run afoul of hate speech laws.

Not being allowed to cite those verses, in their minds, constitutes "persecution".

Yes, that's their preferred framing, whether or not it's true.



While non-Israelis and in particular anti-Zionist Jews aren't to blame for Israel's atrocities, I'm pretty sure it's Israel's actions radicalizing people, rather than anti-Israel protests. The protests are a reflection of people's growing hostility towards the Zionist movement and the atrocities it engages is.

Stricter laws are unlikely to make the anger subside. Unless Israel's behaviour changes, the noticing and the anger that results will continue unabated.

Good point. I think author Salman Rushdie ran afoul of Iran's mullahs for pointing out the exact same thing in Satanic verses. His fatwah is now the longest running religious bounty on somebodies life in history.

I notice in the US the religious Christian right are fond of spouting old testament verses, some of which if applied in 2026 constitute hate speech.

Stricter laws are meant to weed out extreme elements hiding among peaceful protest whose words will be more scrutinised.

Or they're just a means to intimidate those who would criticize Israeli actions, especially given the attempts to frame criticism of Israel as hate speech.