Labor is considering whether hate speech and vilification laws are “robust” enough to discourage hate preachers, as federal police warn they have so far failed to lay charges over radical sermons since the Bondi Hanukkah attack under current policy. Source: The Australian.
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles on Thursday said the government would “continue to monitor” the policing of radical religious leaders after Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett told The Australian she suspected hate preachers were ducking criminal charges by crafting sermons using legal advice to push “right to the edge” of the line of vilification.
It leaves both major parties under pressure from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to work bipartisanly on new legal protections, despite rolling parliamentary brawls over potential infringements on free speech.
Mr Marles was asked about the adequacy of federal hate laws after the AFP revealed a hate preacher task force, dubbed Operation Antrobus, was yet to lay a single charge.
The Albanese government proposed a federal criminal vilification offence in January targeted specifically at religious preaching as part of a broader tranche of post-Bondi legislative reforms, but it was shelved after it failed to meet Greens’ demands and split the Coalition.
“We continue to monitor these and we continue (to) look at how we can make sure that our laws are robust in this regard,” Mr Marles said.
He was also adamant Labor would not revise out religious motivation from its definition of terrorism after The Australian reported Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Jake Blight was expected to recommend violent religious extremism be defined under a broader category of “ideology” in a report to be tabled on November 20.
A spokesman for Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the onus was on the Coalition to help legislate effective deterrents to radical preachers, given their initial opposition to the January proposal.
Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam suggested the Coalition was open to further reforms.
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Labor considering hate laws after AFP fails to charge radical preachers (By James Dowling and Elizabeth Pike, The Australian)
