EXPLAINER: The Long Awaited Sackar Review Into Hate Speech Will Be Released In Two Weeks

Thanks to a successful motion by Greens LGBTQIA+ spokesperson Dr Amanda Cohn in the NSW upper house, the highly anticipated Sackar Review of criminal law protections against hate speech for vulnerable communities will be released in two weeks.

“This is a critical issue for the communities that we represent, and I’m sure that everybody in this place is interested in doing the absolute best we can to prevent hate crimes in this state,” said Dr Cohn in her motion, pointing out that the government has been sitting on this report since November 2025.

In light of recent hate crime legislations in NSW, and the “spate of recent hate crimes against LGBTIQ+ people in Sydney”, Dr Cohn said that it is “critical that this review is available to inform that debate”.

What is the Sackar Review?

Last year, the NSW government appointed John Sackar AM KC to review criminal law protections against hate speech for vulnerable communities.

The review examines whether existing protections are sufficient and recommend any possible improvements, after NSW Parliament responded to an increase in antisemitism with legislation that made intentionally inciting racial hatred a criminal offence in February.

54 different organisations contributed to the Sackar Review of criminal law protections against the incitement of hatred, including Equality Australia, ACON, the HIV/AIDS legal centre, Rainbow Families and other advocates for LGBTQIA+ communities.

“Hate speech is unacceptable and has no place in NSW,” said Attorney General Michael Daley at the time. “The NSW Government has put in place a number of measures to strengthen social cohesion and has made it a criminal offence to incite hatred on grounds of race.

“This review by Mr Sackar will consider hate speech protections for vulnerable communities. It will look at how they interact with existing rights and freedoms and whether there are avenues for improvement.”

The LGBTQIA+ community is one of the vulnerable communities included in this review, and advocates look forward to recommendations that will hopefully add further protections from hate speech for LGBTQIA+ people.

“The state government missed an opportunity earlier this year to protect LGBTIQ+ people and every other vulnerable community in NSW that is the victim of hate,” said Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown.

“The same extremist groups targeting Jewish communities are also threatening trans people, rainbow families, migrants and other marginalised people.”

Why the Sackar Review is important

“It shouldn’t have come to the point of violent hate crimes on the streets of Sydney for the Parliament to pay attention to the safety of LGBTIQ+ people, and it shouldn’t have needed a Greens motion in the parliament to push the government to release this report,” Dr Cohn told Star Observer.

Dr Cohn points out that LGBTQIA+ people were excluded from previous changes to hate crime laws in NSW, and now Chris Minns is “scrambling” to fix this, after announcing new legislation with harsher penalties for hate crimes against queer people.

“It’s critical that members of Parliament and the public have access to this information now, so that we can understand whether what’s being proposed is the best protection that can be provided by criminal law”.

Dr Cohn believes that every LGBTQIA+ person in NSW deserves to not only feel safe, but to be safe.

“We must not be an afterthought to protection for other marginalised communities. But we can’t simply police and arrest our way out of hate – law and order responses don’t change hearts and minds that have been hardened by hatred.”