The planned new vilification offence is clearly targeted at those who promote racial hatred. But it has a fatal flaw, says CHRIS MERRITT, Vice President of the Rule of Law Education Centre.
Its legitimate goal is at risk of being undermined by the proposed defence which protects those who include a quote from a religious text or even a mere reference.
Unless this defence is removed, it would amount to a betrayal of members of the Islamic community who might oppose religious leaders using their position to promote Jew hatred. It would be seen as encouragement for hate preachers who have promoted Jew hatred in recent years by linking their statements to the reading of religious texts. This cannot be what parliament seeks to achieve.
The defence amounts to a guide for hate preachers. It tells them exactly what they need to do in order to continue promoting racial hatred with impunity.
Removing this defence would mean that the new offence of promoting racial hatred would apply to everyone. It would be impossible to avoid liability by the simple method of reciting a few words.
This requires parliament to accept that religious freedom, like free speech generally, can be restricted in order to place greater emphasis on public safety.
This should not be seen as contentious. The law already prevails over passages in the Bible such a Leviticus 20:13 which seeks to impose the death penalty for homosexuality.
The point here is that we do not live in a theocratic society. Laws made by parliament prevail to the exclusion of any conflicting mandate in any religious text. That principle should not be eroded
At the Jan. 14, 2025, Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security’s public hearing for the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026, Chris Merritt outlined the following key points regarding the proposed Bill and its impact on the rule of law:
“The Institute supports the need to change aspects of federal criminal law in order to properly respond to the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on December 14 last year. That attack demonstrated that there is a clear need to address the culture of Jew hatred that has taken hold in parts of the community.
This is why the most important part of the proposed changes is the provision criminalising the promotion of racial hatred. This provision, in Part 5 of the Bill, would result in people being jailed for public statements.
The terror attack at Bondi was based on race and ethnic origin – not on sexuality, gender preference or any other criterion.