Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

In the wake of October 7 we've had a dramatic increase in hatred in Australia, unfortunately. It's something I can't recall ever seeing being so severe in my lifetime. Some of that hatred has manifested itself in antisemitism and racism, and it's having a dramatic effect on social cohesion. Some Australians are feeling scared and threatened and are unable to leave their homes. They feel that they're not part of the community that they grew up in. These are not values that we want to see here in Australia. These are not values that represent our nation, and, on that basis, the Albanese government are acting. We're acting through this bill and through other reforms to ensure that we respond to the increasing number of hate crimes that encourage violence and extremism and to make them crimes in this country.

Unfortunately, in the community that I represent, we've had a number of shocking antisemitic and racist attacks on premises, on people and on our community. The Only About Children childcare centre on Storey Street, Maroubra, was attacked on the morning of Tuesday 21 January with a disgusting and evil act of antisemitism, which I strongly condemn. The targeting of an early childhood education facility is simply unforgivable. Targeting kids—it's about as low as it gets.

I grew up a few hundred metres from that site. It's actually the site of a former primary school where I went to school as a kid. It's now a childcare centre, and it was quite alarming for me to see what had occurred there that morning in an area that I've got such a connection with, which I have had for most of my life. I was there that morning to see the impact of those crimes and I made it clear that I stand with the Jewish community in our area and across the nation in working to stop these sorts of attacks. There's no place for hateful and cowardly antisemitism anywhere in our community. I was joined by the Prime Minister and the New South Wales Premier that morning, who equally condemned the attacks. We spoke with neighbours, educators and members of the Jewish community at the site to offer our support.

Unfortunately, a week later, another attack occurred at the Mount Sinai College and on a nearby home on 30 January. This was a targeted attack against students returning to the Jewish primary school that morning. It was another disgusting and low act to try and target kids and make them feel unsafe as they were returning to school for the year. On that morning, I met with the school president and community members to see what we could do to help, and I was back at the school on Friday morning when the kids were returning to greet the parents with local police to let them know that we had their backs.

I've been meeting with members of the Jewish community over the last couple of months, and, understandably, they're fed up—and so they should be. They're scared and they want this all to stop. My message to them was very clear that we're doing all we can to catch these perpetrators and ensure that they're prosecuted as quickly as possible. Just over the course of the last week, two arrests have been made in relation to some of those antisemitic attacks in our community, and they follow about 180 arrests that have been made since the government passed laws strengthening protections for Jewish communities throughout this country. We're continuing to work proudly with our Jewish neighbours in Kingsford Smith and across Australia.

Jewish communities are ordinary Australians who just want to go about their lives, take their kids to school, go to work and live a rewarding and fulfilling life here in Australia like everyone else. They don't deserve to be targeted with these shocking unAustralian attacks. It's been encouraging to see our community get behind the Jewish community and support them and work with them, and that's why we've established a working group made up of elected representatives, including myself, the local area commanders, the police, and leaders of the Jewish community. We're going to work with them to make sure that they can live safely in Australia. That's why this government, the Albanese government, is acting to protect all Australians from hatred, extremism and violence. The government introduced legislation to create new criminal offences that strengthen protection against hate crimes. This bill will make it clear that urging or threatening violence and force is unacceptable and subject to serious criminal penalties. This bill strengthens existing offences that prohibit urging the use of force or violence against others. It also creates new criminal offences for threatening the use of force or violence against others. We have no tolerance for some of the actions that have been occurring in our nation and we will hunt down those responsible and prosecute them under these new laws.

These new laws will protect groups or members of groups distinguished by race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, identity, intersex status, disability, nationality, political opinion or national or ethnic origin. The offences will carry a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment. There will be a higher maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment where the threat to use force or violence, if carried out, would threaten the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth. The new offences will target the most serious forms of harmful hate speech, namely urging and threatening force or violence against others. The bill sends a clear message that urging force or violence is unacceptable and will be subject to serious criminal penalties. We're doing all we can to make sure that we keep our communities safe and that all Australians have the right to go about their business, to take their kids to school, to go to work, to enjoy our wonderful country and to be treated equally and respectfully as Australians. That's why the Albanese government is doing all it can to protect the community that I live in and all Australians across our wonderful nation.

See this speech in context