Federal hate law slammed as inadequate / Hopes for inquiry into anti-LGBTIQA+ hate
Just.Equal Australia has called the passage of narrow anti-hate laws a political failure, and will now push for an inquiry into escalating hate against LGBTIQA+ Australians and other groups.
Group spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said,
“Like other Australians we support strong measures against anti-Semitism."
“But the anti-hate laws Federal Parliament has passed in response to the Bondi tragedy are much narrower than we advocated for and will do nothing to curb escalating hate against LGBTIQA+ people and many other groups vulnerable to hate.”
“The Prime Minister said ‘more could have been done’ to prevent the Bondi attack, but his Government has failed to seize this opportunity to do more to prevent future attacks whoever they are aimed at.”
“It is astonishing to me that the wide anti-hate protections rejected by the Federal Labor Government have already been enacted at a state level, including by Tasmania's Liberal State Government."
“When judged against the growing problem of hate in Australia, this new law is a failure of political imagination and political will.”
Mr Croome said Just.Equal will press for a parliamentary inquiry into escalating hate against LGBTIQA+ people and other groups not already covered by the current bill.
“We owe it to LGBTIQA+ victims of hate speech and hate-motivated crime to keep the focus on the dreadful impact of hate."
The bill passed by Parliament provides stronger penalties for threats of violence by religious leaders, allows racist groups to be banned and allows for harsher penalties for crimes motivated by racial hate. A vilification clause that was limited to race was dropped before the debate.
Just.Equal and other groups advocated unsuccessfully for the provisions limited to race to be widened to protect a range of attributes including sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics, as well as other attributes such as disability, sex and religion.
For a copy of this statement on the web, click here
For more information contact Rodney Croome on 0409 010 668.
