Anti-Vilification Law To Protect Victoria’s LGBT Community More Than 18 Months Away
In September 2021, the Victorian government agreed to extend the state’s anti-vilification laws to include protections for sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability and HIV/AIDS status.
Two years later, the Dan Andrews Labor government, which was reelected last year on a platform that included a commitment to equality, is yet to fulfil that promise.
Attorney General Jaclyn Symes last week set a time frame of 18 months to introduce the new legislation.
“I will have further announcements at the end of the year with the hope of having legislation within the next 18 months,” the Attorney General assured Parliament.
Gaps In The Law
Following the recent targeting of drag events in Melbourne by far-right groups, Victorian Greens called on the Andrews government to expand the state’s anti-vilification laws. Currently, the law does not protect gender identity and sexuality.
“Our LGBTIQA+ communities in Victoria are strong and resilient. But no one should be faced with abuse, harassment or even threats of violence simply for being who they are. “Yet due to gaps in our laws that’s exactly what’s happening,” Victorian Greens MP and the party’s LGBTIQA+ spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri said in a statement.
“The Victorian Labor Government needs to update our anti-vilification laws as a matter of urgency. If equality is ‘non-negotiable’, what are they waiting for? If now isn’t the time ‘for laws and funding’, when is?” de Vietri said.
Vilification Is Common For Many Victorians
In March 2021, the Legal and Social Issues Committee tabled its inquiry report before the Victorian Parliament. One of its recommendations was to strengthen the state’s anti-vilification laws to cover hate crimes against LGBTQI and other communities.
In its report, the committee said that “prejudice and hate are still rife in Victoria, and our anti-vilification laws are failing to deliver upon its objectives and purposes”.
“We heard that vilification is common for many Victorians, including those who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Muslim, Jewish, women, LGBTIQ+ or who have a disability. We heard that vilification and other prejudicial behaviour comes in many forms and is often frequent and repeated,” the committee said.
Protecting LGBTQI Communities
Attorney General Symes told Victorian Parliament that expanding the anti-vilification laws was a “high priority” for the government.
“We do want to extend anti-vilification protections beyond race and religion to prevent and of course further deter vilification on other grounds, including protecting our LGBTIQ+ members of the community and other groups. We also are looking at lowering the threshold to which civil and criminal vilification will be able to be accessed through those systems,” said Symes.
The Attorney General revealed that the government was currently in the consultation phase. “We wish we did not have to do them at the outset – we really do – but we know that there is a need to improve the robustness of our system in relation to hate speech, anti-vilification laws and the like, and our commitment remains strong. It is complex, there are a lot of stakeholders that are interested and we are embarking on consultation right now.”
“I do not have a massive army of people to do all of this work, but that is why having the conversation and involving the public and interested stakeholders progresses the work and ensures that when we get to the nitty-gritty of actually drafting legislation and cabinet documents and the like we have done all of the hard work and it is just a matter of doing the processes to implement what we need to do in here. So it will be something that is a priority,” added Attorney General Symes.
