1. What has the government announced?
Following Sunday’s mass shooting at a Hanukah event at Bondi beach – which authorities allege was inspired by Islamic State – the federal government has accelerated moves to respond to the recommendations of the antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal. The report was handed down in July, but Albanese has been criticised for not releasing a formal response to the plan.
Released on Thursday, the government’s plan pledges to crack down on people spreading “hate, division and radicalisation”, including strengthening penalties for hate speech and giving the home affairs minister new powers to reject visas.
The report also tasks the eSafety commissioner, the antisemitism envoy and the communications minister with addressing online antisemitism by early 2026, including the potential creation of new rules to address online hate.
Australian prime minister announces new laws to combat hate speech after Bondi shooting – video
The government has not specified the exact details of these crackdowns, with Albanese and the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, reluctant to say which groups or individuals could be targeted, or whether specific phrases would be captured.
2. What are the changes?
The government proposed five changes to hate speech laws:
A new aggravated hate speech offence for preachers and leaders who promote violence.
Increased penalties for hate speech promoting violence.
Making “hate” an aggravating factor in sentencing crimes for online threats and harassment.
Developing a regime for listing organisations whose leaders engage in hate speech promoting violence or racial hatred.
Developing a federal offence for serious vilification based on race and/or advocating racial supremacy.
The minister for home affairs will also be given new powers “to cancel or reject visas for those who spread hate and division”.
Exactly how those changes will operate, including the precise legislative wording, is still to be decided.
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Albanese did not say when these changes could be implemented. The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, demanded parliament be recalled immediately to address antisemitism and strengthen counter-terror laws.
Albanese said he was “open” to recalling parliament, but the government first had to work on the proposals “to make sure that they stack up in any legal challenge”.
3. Why are the changes needed?
Burke said some groups had “gone right to the limits of the law”, but have escaped prosecution.
“There have been organisations which any Australian would look at and say their behaviour, their philosophy, and what they are trying to do is about division, and has no place in Australia,” he said. “And yet, for a generation, no government has been able to successfully take action against them because they have fallen just below the legal threshold.”
Some Jewish organisations and rightwing critics had demanded the government address phrases like “globalise the intifada”. Former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is Jewish, on Wednesday said “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was a “very violent statement”, in urging prosecutions of people espousing hatred.
Asked about specific phrases to be outlawed, Burke did not answer directly, saying the hate speech laws would “set a test”.
Speaking in general terms, he spoke of what he called “hate preachers” giving addresses that left him “shocked that it is happening in Australia”.
Asked about pro-Palestine protests, which have been criticised by Frydenberg and the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, Albanese said he was concerned about some rhetoric at those demonstrations.
“Hatred starts with language, and then moves to action and vilification, and then can lead to an escalation,” he said.
“We need to be able to have political discourse in this country which is respectful and to respectfully disagree, but a line has been crossed over and over again in the way that some of this debate has been conducted.”
He also urged people coming to Australia to “leave old divisions and hatred at the door”.
4. Which groups could be targeted?
Government sources on Thursday were reluctant to say which groups could be in the sights of the new legislation, and Albanese did not specify in his public comments.
On the ABC’s 7.30 program on Wednesday, Burke noted Asio boss Mike Burgess had raised concern about the likes of Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir and neo-Nazi groups.
In a recent speech to the Lowy Institute, Burgess claimed both groups had an “insidious strategy”, saying Hizb ut-Tahrir “wants to test and stretch the boundaries of legality without breaking them”, while the National Socialist Network “deliberately stops short” of promoting violence.
It’s expected the regime for listing organisations could create penalties for people supporting or funding those groups, but details are to be finalised.
5. Who has been calling for changes?
Speaking before Thursday’s announcement, the former Asio chief Dennis Richardson said current laws were inadequate.
“There’s no point in having legislation relating to hate speech unless it is enforced, and in recent years, it hasn’t been enforced with the rigour that it should be,” Richardson told ABC radio on Thursday.
Independent MP Allegra Spender, whose electorate of Wentworth includes Bondi, had proposed amendments to add hate-speech provisions to the government’s hate crimes laws passed in 2024, but they were not supported by Labor.
“We know that extremism comes out of intent and opportunity, and that words [and] influential speakers can help drive that radicalisation,” she told Guardian Australia.
“We need to strengthen [and] bring hate speech laws across the country … particularly to try to deal with some of the hate preachers.”
The former attorney-general and Labor MP Mark Dreyfus, who passed those laws in 2024, agreed they should be re-examined.
“If the laws require further toughening to catch other conduct that ought to be caught as hate speech then we need to consider further amendments to the criminal code,” he said.