Anthony Albanese will push the Coalition and the Greens to support urgent legislation establishing tougher hate speech laws and gun reform, bringing MPs back to Canberra next Monday to debate laws proposed in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
Recalling parliament two weeks early, the prime minister said the new hate speech and anti-vilification laws would be considered in the same legislation as provisions to establish the biggest gun buyback programme since the Port Arthur massacre. The government promised to crack down on so-called 'hate preachers', creating a new racial vilification offence and listing groups as prohibited hate groups, a lower threshold than the terror group listing.
The legislation will also ensure offenders driven by extremism have that motivation factored into their sentencing, strengthen existing bans on prohibited symbols, and create a new offence for inciting hatred to intimidate or harass. The home affairs minister will have new powers to cancel or refuse visas, and a new scheme to formally list hate groups will be created.
Albanese denied the plan was an attempt to wedge Nationals and Liberals opposed to tougher rules on gun ownership. 'The terrorists at Bondi beach had hatred in their minds, but guns in their hands. This law will deal with both,' he said. Parliament will sit on 19 and 20 January, with condolence motions for the 15 people killed at Bondi.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said she would consider the legislation but warned against playing politics. 'We are deeply sceptical of the prime minister's decision to introduce a single bill that will attempt to cover multiple complex and unrelated policy areas,' she said. One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce called for a ban on burning the Australian flag.
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said the laws would be 'the toughest hate laws Australia has ever seen'. The government has consulted Jewish groups, and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry welcomed the tightening. The bill will be reviewed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security before introduction.
