New hate speech laws urgently drafted following the Bondi Beach massacre will be debated in parliament next week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Monday he would recall the federal parliament on January 19 ahead of its scheduled return on February 2.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday. Credit: AAP
“I will write this afternoon to the Speaker of the House of Representatives for parliament to be recalled next Monday and Tuesday, both the House of Representatives and the Senate and Senate,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
He said the Coalition had agreed on wording for the condolence motion to be debated in both houses on Monday, and he expected the debate to be completed in one day, despite the complication.
“The motion will unequivocally condemn the terrorist atrocity perpetrated at Bondi Beach and commit our parliament to eradicating the evil of antisemitism,” he said.
Hate speech legislation – the combatting antisemitism, hate and extremism bill – will be debated on Tuesday.
Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke has previously said the new hate speech legislation would push the limits of the Constitution, and his department has rushed to draft laws over the summer that would withstand being challenged in the High Court.
It’s a comprehensive package of reforms which creates serious offences for hate preachers and leaders seeking to radicalise young Australians,” Albanese said.
“It increases the penalties for hate crimes offences and ensures that offenders whose crimes were motivated by extremism had that factored into their sentencing. It creates a new offence for inciting hatred in order to intimidate or harass. It expands and strengthens the ban on prohibited symbols, and it makes it easier for the Minister for Home Affairs to cancel or refuse a visa for people intent on spreading hatred, and it creates a new framework that will enable the Minister for Home Affairs to list organisations as prohibited hate groups. Once an organisation is listed, it will be a criminal offence to be a member, to recruit for it, to donate or receive funds or support that group in any way.”
