Media Release

Thursday December 11^th 2025

 

 

Equality Tasmania has praised unanimous support in Tasmania’s Parliament for the passage of what it says are nation-leading new laws allowing stronger penalties for hate-motivated crime.

 

 

Today, the Tasmanian Upper House unanimously passed the new law following its unanimous endorsement by the Lower House in September.

 

Until now, stronger penalties only applied to crimes motivated by racial hatred, but the new provisions extend the potential for stronger penalties to a range of other attributes including disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.

 

Also, the new provisions are the best in the nation and some of the best in the world when it comes to the evidence a judge can consider when determining if a crime was hate motivated.

 

Equality Tasmania spokesperson, Rodney Croome said,

 

“Unanimous support in Parliament for these provisions sends the message that hate-motivated crimes against LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians are as serious and as unacceptable as other forms of hate crime.”

 

“Too often courts are blind to the prejudice and hatred behind attacks on LGBTIQA+ people, so we applaud the Government, Labor, the Greens and the independents for supporting the nation-leading provisions that will help judges determine when crimes are motivated by hate and prejudice.”

 

“We particularly welcome new provisions that allow courts to consider patterns of hate and prejudice by perpetrators, both before and after crimes are committed.”

 

“The provisions in relation to hostility demonstrated before and after crimes are committed are nation-leading and we call on other states and territories to follow Tasmania’s lead."

 

 

“Our focus will now be on ensuring police know how to identify, investigate and record prejudice and hate as motivations for crime."

 

For a copy of this statement on the web, click here