Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologized to the Jewish community and the nation following the December 14 Bondi Beach terror attack, which targeted a Jewish Hanukkah festival.
Standing next to the Prime Minister in Canberra, Home Secretary Tony Burke revealed more details about the legislative changes the government hopes to get through Parliament next year in the wake of the attack.
“As Prime Minister, I feel responsibility for an atrocity that occurred while I was Prime Minister, and I am sorry for what the Jewish community and our nation as a whole have experienced,” Albanese said in Canberra on Monday.
He said “urgency and unity” are needed in the aftermath of the attack that killed 15 people and, after meeting with his cabinet, announced a number of proposed law reforms, including creating an aggravated offense for hate speech.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said a new bill to be drafted in the coming weeks will “crack down on those who spread hatred, division and radicalization in our community and build on the Government’s existing laws on hate speech”.
Rowland said the measures build on those outlined by the Albanian government last week, including tackling hate speech and tightening migration laws to deport people with extremist views.
The measures announced on Monday include a tougher hate speech offense for preachers and leaders who promote or threaten violence, increased penalties for hate speech offenses and making hate an aggravating factor in sentencing for a number of Commonwealth crimes.
Rowland also announced that after consultation with the Jewish community and others, a new serious defamation offense will be created, criminalizing incitement to hatred.
She also said the government will introduce a new criminal offense that will target adults who attempt to influence and radicalize children, including those who advocate violence against children by protected groups.
“This unprecedented radicalization of our youth must stop. We will not allow extremists to groom and brainwash our children into hatred or terrorism,” she said.
Changes in ministerial powers in the field of visas
Home Secretary Tony Burke added proposed reforms to the minister’s power to revoke visas, saying: “…someone who engages in and has a history of hate speech, defamation, displaying symbols of hate, will in itself be sufficient to revoke the visa.
“I always have to work from the perspective of, ‘does it provoke discord in the community?’ It is not sufficient in itself to establish that someone has committed hate speech and defamation. Now it will be so.”
Burke also announced proposed changes to customs laws to make it easier for hate symbols to be intercepted at the border, and to establish a new form of listing for organizations not listed as terrorist organizations.
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