Disability and LGBTQ+ Advocates Call For Expanded Federal Hate Speech Laws

The federal government is being called to extend protections to disabled and LGBTQ+ Australians ahead of new hate speech laws set to be proposed in the coming weeks.

Returning to Canberra early in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack, parliamentarians with be tackling anti-vilification laws first up, with lobby groups awaiting draft legislation before Friday.

“We’re working on the legislation, and we also want to consult on the legislation as well,” Anthony Albanese told reporters on Tuesday. “So some of those consultations will take place over coming days to make sure that we get this legislation right.”

Last February, the government were criticised for failing to include a serious vilification offence in their Hate Crimes Bill, with Equality Australia calling it a “missed opportunity.”

“Outlawing incitement to violence while ignoring the toxic rhetoric and harassment that leads to it is simply putting a Band-Aid on a much bigger wound,” said CEO Anna Brown.

“We have seen a shocking number of violent and deliberately targeted attacks against LGBTIQ+ people, and it is clear they are motivated by a specific form of hatred.

“The threats to our community are real and severe and the need for greater protections from hate and vilification has never been more urgent.”

Independent MP for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, pushed for such amendments at the time, telling the Sydney Morning Herald this week that along with protections against antisemitic and racial hate speech, it was vital to also outlaw the promotion of hatred and violence.

Expanded racial vilification laws and new offences criminalising the incitement of hated are being considered by the government now, as well as an aggravated hate speech offence for preachers and leaders who promote or threaten violence against protected groups or members of groups.

“Not what we would expect to see or need” says Opposition Leader

The call is being echoed from other lobby groups, including Just Equal Australia, with spokesperson Rodney Croome saying the government needs to “protect against other forms as hate as well” as antisemitism.

“If we only guard against one form of hate it sends the message that other forms of hate are somehow more legitimate,” he said.

People With Disability Australia are also demanding similar gaps in legislation to be filled, outlawing serious vilification against disabled Australians rather than simply language threatening violence.

“Vilification, like threats of violence, can cause significant psychological harm and stop people from enjoying their fundamental human rights,” they said.

It comes as Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told a press conference on Wednesday that protections for LGBTQIA+ and disabled Australians are “not what we would expect to see or need to see in any legislation that comes forward.”

“I want to be very clear, tackling hate speech is not a licence to go after free speech. There are clear issues that this legislation needs to address. It needs to be targeted to the threats that we face, and those threats are radical Islamic extremism and antisemitism,” she said on Wednesday.

“That is not what this is about, and that would be a prime minister who was not confronting fairly and squarely the issue that so far he has failed to confront, which is radical Islamic extremism and the consequences of letting that go unchecked, and what that has meant for Australians, and particularly Jewish Australians since October the 7th, 2023.”