This week, Australia passed new laws that expand government authority to ban hate groups and impose tougher penalties for hate crimes. The legislation is part of the government’s response to Sydney’s Bondi Beach mass shooting in December when two gunmen killed 15 people at celebrations for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
States are obligated under international human rights law to protect people from racial discrimination and violence, and hate crime laws can further that goal. However, such laws need to be appropriately enforced to protect the rights of all groups and minimize the risks posed to other fundamental rights, including freedom of association and speech.
The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill allows the home affairs minister to designate and ban “hate groups” and introduces criminal sentences of up to 7 years in prison for members and 15 years for their directors, recruiters, or financial funders.
The minister may designate a group if they believe it has threatened people due to their race, nationality, or ethnicity, or has publicly supported such action. Groups could be banned without the opportunity to respond to allegations or challenge evidence against them, because the laws state procedural fairness is not required.
The legislation also broadly empowers the home affairs minister to deny or revoke visas based upon hate speech or association with extremist groups, as well as hate crimes. The law opens the door to banning groups without clear evidence of incitement to violence and could have a chilling effect on free speech. Australia should not join the ranks of governments that have increasingly targeted peaceful civic groups as “undesirable” or “terrorist entities.”
The scope of protection is also limited. The laws target hate crimes based on race, nationality, or ethnic origin but do not extend protections to victims for reason of religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, or disability.
While the new legislation will be reviewed in two years, the authorities should strictly monitor the laws’ human rights impacts starting day one.
The laws’ risks highlight Australia’s need for a human rights act. A national charter of rights would protect individuals’ rights by requiring public officials to assess the human rights impacts of bills before they’re introduced.
