The Anglican and Catholic churches warn a proposal to criminalise hate speech in New South Wales could have unintended consequences of criminalising expressions of doctrine. Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Following the string of violent antisemitic attacks that have shocked Sydney, Premier Chris Minns has flagged plans to overhaul existing racial vilification law to create a new criminal offence for hate speech despite a recent NSW Law Reform Commission review recommending against it.
Changes to section 93z of the Crimes Act have long been controversial. Last year, after a nine-month review, the Law Reform Commission warned terms such as “hatred” were imprecise and can mean different things to different people.
That recommendation came after concerns were raised by legal and religious groups, including the Anglican and Catholic churches, who fear such a reform could impact on their right to preach Christian values.
Michael Stead, the Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, said his church was “deeply outraged and appalled” by the spate of attacks against the Jewish community, but cautioned against the “unintended consequences” of such a law.
“The problem is other forms of speech some people categorise as hate speech, which we would categorise as an expression of religious doctrine,” he said.
“That has been our concern: the argument that when someone expresses a Christian view of marriage, that is hate speech towards someone in a marriage which is inconsistent with the Christian definition of marriage.”
In a statement, the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney said while it commended Mr Minns for “seeking to take decisive action” against rising antisemitism, the risk of introducing a criminal offence for inciting hatred was “the variety of opinions as to what constitutes ‘hatred’.”
“There are some who would want to define it so narrowly as to make the law redundant, while others would want it so broad that any form of critique or disagreement would be classed as ‘hate speech’,” the archdiocese said.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has welcomed Mr Minns’ proposal, with co-chief executive Peter Wertheim saying criminal sanctions for hate speech were “long overdue”.
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Religious groups split on changes to hate-speech laws (By Michael McGowan, Sydney Morning Herald)
