Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in strong support of the government's Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024. We are a nation, I think we can agree across the aisle here and across partisanship, that values diversity, inclusivity and respect, and one thing I've learnt as the Special Envoy for Social Cohesion is that it's not that complicated. Having a harmonious society comes down to ensuring that when people have differences and disagreements, sometimes vehement disagreements, they can navigate the difference peacefully and respectfully, which adds to the harmony and cohesion in our society. It doesn't mean we will never disagree or never have difference. It means we have the skill and the ability to engage with each other in a peaceful, respectful way and not let it cross over into hate speech or violence. How we interact with each other, as individuals and as members of organisations, groups and communities, is of critical importance. It's about how we do so in such a way that, despite what may be very deeply held disagreements, that interaction occurs peacefully and respectfully. Where it becomes a threat to our cohesion, to our harmony as a multi-ethnic, multifaith, pluralistic society, is when it crosses over into hate speech and vilification of others based on their identity—when violence and conflict are used to express views, rather than navigating disagreements in a peaceful way.

We're debating an amendment bill that seeks to sanction some of this hate speech. It deals with the problem that is occurring and has been occurring. This also depends on people's willingness and ability to feel like they are part of a society, like they are part of a nation, with an investment in that society so that they make the commitment and take the responsibility to engage in a peaceful and respectful way and call out the hate speech and anyone that seeks to use violence or hate speech to express themselves. I think a sense of belonging, of being part of a community and part of a nation—part of Australia—is really important so that you can make that commitment as a citizen.

The sense of Australianness, of who we are as a nation, is really important, but so is the sense of a shared humanity—understanding that, even if someone is from a completely different background than you, with completely different experiences, and you disagree with them wholeheartedly, down to your bones, you still have a shared humanity. The basic decency that comes into play there is being able to understand, or at least tolerate, others' perspectives without resorting to a form of violence or hate speech. That's a sense of basic decency. That's something that the law can't enforce. It's about who we are as people, it's about behaviour and morality, and it's about what Australians are like as people—the fair go that we always talk about.

Thinking about how we say and do things, and why that matters when it comes to engaging with different people and different groups, is of critical importance, but we know, of course, that hate fuelled violence and discrimination remain a real threat. We're seeing the emergence of the vile hatred of antisemitism. The ancient scourge of antisemitism has been unleashed, and that's why this bill is important. We can't afford to be complacent while these hate crimes continue to increase. As previous speakers have noted, this legislative response is a very important marker. Putting in place this hate crimes legislation gives a very clear signal from the very top of the political leadership of this country, from this parliament, this place, that hate crimes are unacceptable, both legally and morally. That is what real leadership is about. Ensuring cohesion and harmony in our society requires us here in this place to take responsibility and take a firm stand against those who would seek to divide us through fear, hatred, anger and violence.

I'm a member of the Labor Party. It's a party of government, and it has been the architect of the antidiscrimination framework of this country. We put in place the Racial Discrimination Act in 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act in 1984 and the Disability Discrimination Act in 1992, and we supported the Age Discrimination Act, which was passed in 2004 by the former coalition government.

The amendments we are introducing in the bill before us seek to build on that strong foundation, that legal framework and architecture that sets a standard for people to follow and says clearly that discriminating against people based on who they are is unacceptable under the law. In many respects, what parliaments and governments do over decades in setting that standard in a legal sense is a form of leadership, insofar as society moves in that direction as well and changes to understand that these actions are no longer acceptable—if they ever were. They never were. That is the power of politics and the power of being in this place and in this parliament and of our duty to make laws.

These amendments build on that strong foundation, as I noted. They strengthen our ability to combat hate speech and protect many vulnerable communities who are feeling the pain right now of being the victims of egregious and disgraceful forms of hatred such as antisemitism, which has been such a scourge, and the rise of antisemitism, which has been such a scourge in the past 15 months. In modern day Australia, Jewish Australians feel in such a vulnerable state. I've visited a number of synagogues and I've been to the Adass Israel Synagogue. I've been to other synagogues where I've spoken to people. You can sense the fear and the palpable anger and the uncertainty that people are feeling.

These amendments are a direct response to the recommendations of the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee and the extensive consultations the government has undertaken with community stakeholders, law enforcement and a variety of legal experts. They're amendments that will expand the existing offence of urging violence and establish new offences as well. In doing so, we are extending protections for many minority groups that are vulnerable—LGBTQI+ communities, people with disabilities, religious minorities, racially diverse groups and many more.

In detail, the bill and amendments combat hate speech and protect the Australian community from violence and discrimination by specifically creating a new criminal offence for threatening the use of force or violence against protected groups, their associates and property and by strengthening existing offences for urging the use of force or violence against protected groups, their associates and property. The existing offences of publicly displaying prohibited hate symbols would be extended to apply to circumstances where the targeted persons are distinguished by sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status. This accords with Australia's international human rights obligations and complements existing civil protections in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

Hate speech and hate fuelled violence don't just harm the individuals who are the immediate victims. They really undermine and threaten the very fabric of our society and who we are. When extremists feel emboldened to intimidate, to vilify and to physically attack individuals and communities based on their identities, they're not just targeting those individuals. They're attempting, in many ways, to bring down and undermine and destroy the very fundamental elements of who we are as a liberal democracy—the values of equality and fairness, the cohesion and harmony that define us, and our ability to engage with each other.

We have people from hundreds of countries around the world, with hundreds of different languages and faiths and so many different backgrounds, who've adopted this country and made it their home. We have been able to actually live in a relatively harmonious society over many decades, and people say, 'Oh, what a miracle.' It's not a miracle. It's based on the hard work and the commitment of generations of Australians, not just the political leaders in this place. Yes, the parliament has played a role in setting those legal frameworks and that architecture, but millions of Australians—individuals—have committed to those principles to ensure that, even if they disagree with someone, they are navigating that difference without resorting to violence and hate. It sounds simplistic and it sounds easy, but it doesn't happen in a lot of parts of the world. What we've created here is something special. I'm not saying we're perfect. There have been many instances where ethnic and other disputes have emerged. But, on the whole, we have been a successful multifaith and multi-ethnic nation, and that pluralism has become celebrated and embraced.

We've seen the devastating consequences of hate crimes here. We've seen it play out. We've seen it play out abroad. We know that when people move towards violence to express their ideological or political views, it's often following a long line, a long tail, of online radicalisation or public intimidation—and the unchecked nature of that hate speech follows through into more and more egregious, violent actions towards others. This bill, these amendments, ensures that law enforcement have the tools necessary to intervene before words turn into violence—or physical violence, because words themselves can be a form of violence, as we know. More importantly, it reinforces our commitment to fostering a cohesive society where all Australians, regardless of background, feel safe, valued and included.

What the government is doing is matching our words with our actions, and I know there's been a degree of politicisation around the challenges we face. The Albanese Labor government has taken a lot of substantive action over this period of time, and I know there's been a lot of criticism from various points in the political spectrum. I think it's important to note, though, that when I said words actually matter, we've heard that not just from myself in this place but also from people like the Director-General of ASIO, who talked about the fact that words can inflame tensions and make things worse. So when we see this politicisation, particularly by the opposition, minor parties and other political actors in this place, it is running against the fact that, rather than uniting with and supporting the actions that are being taken by the government, there's a choice there that's being made to politicise.

The Leader of the Opposition had nine years in government to legislate against hate symbols and the Nazi salute. He didn't. We did, and it all came into effect last year. He had nine years in government to legislate against doxxing. He didn't, and the coalition actually voted against the bill that criminalised it. He had nine years in government to legislate against hate crimes. He didn't. We're doing that now in parliament with this bill. The fact is the Leader of the Opposition was a senior member of a government that actually fought to strip protections for all marginalised communities against hate speech. If that wasn't enough, just last week we also saw the Leader of the Opposition launch an extraordinary attack on the Australian Human Rights Commission, calling it a rogue body for merely upholding Australia's commitments to human rights. There have been multiple opportunities to unequivocally condemn the escalating hate speech and vilification, and yet the choice there was to undermine institutions that are there to protect Australians from discrimination.

The choice to fuel division and discord is not leadership. The manufacturing of culture wars and the cynical attempts to stoke the flames of division for short-term political gain are not leadership. Those members have a choice: they can support this bill and take a stand against hate or they can continue to dog whistle and divide. The same applies to other members of this place who have fanned the flames of hatred with the words that they have used. That is something that we should all be cognisant of: as political representatives, all of us bear a responsibility—a greater one than just debating policies and laws—of setting the tone for our nation through our leadership. Our words and actions shape public discourse, influence community attitudes and have real consequences for people's lives. Leadership demands that we stand up against hate, not exploit it for political gain, and that is what the Albanese Labor government is doing today by introducing this amending bill. We are standing with all communities targeted by hate, and that is something that we are doing in order to protect vulnerable communities in our nation.

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