Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024. It is beyond disappointing that the rise of antisemitism in this country has gotten to a point where we have to introduce legislation to counter it. This is a bill that is, sadly, necessary because of the repeated failures of the Albanese Labor government to prevent this sadly predictable spread of antisemitism. This all stems from weak leadership from the Prime Minister and by the Labor government in general. Attacks on Jewish Australians are attacks on every Australian. Today, it's the Jews, but who's next? Will it be the Hindus, or the Christians, or the Muslims, or the atheists? Attacking people because of their Jewish faith and ancestry is un-Australian. We are a country that prides itself on treating people equally, whatever their faith or their background is. It is a core national value, and antisemitism is a direct rejection of that value.

Jewish businesses, homes, cars and synagogues have all been targeted in attempts to spread antisemitism in Australia since the 7 October attacks in Israel. These are not the only places that have been targeted. Pro-Palestinian slogans and vandalism have covered war memorials all over the country, including Anzac Parade, just down the road from Parliament House here in Canberra. The Australian National Korean War Memorial, the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial and the Australian Army National Memorial were graffitied with pro-Palestine messages in June last year. One message of vandalism said, 'Blood on your hands, Anthony, Peter, Penny.' The Returned Services League of Australia, the RSL, condemned the vandalism, with national president Greg Melick describing the damage as 'deplorable'. Those war memorials honour those who have sacrificed to protect and preserve all the freedoms that all Australians enjoy. The dabbing of protest slogans is 'nothing short of despicable', he said. It is dishonourable in the extreme to use war memorials as a platform for a protest. I completely agree with Greg, and I believe that hate speech laws should include the vandalism of war memorials. I believe that, for men and women who have sacrificed their lives in the defence of freedom for this nation, the least we can do is honour their legacy and the contribution to this nation they all made.

As many would be aware, the initial spark of the antisemitic attacks we are now seeing across the country came with the 7 October terrorist attacks on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. There can be no equivocation or denial of this. The 7 October attacks saw the single greatest loss of Jewish lives on any day since the Holocaust in the Second World War; 7 October was a day of murder, torture, kidnapping and brutal sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Jews in Israel. The attack was deliberately cruel and barbaric. We don't need to repeat these heinous acts in this chamber, but there is no doubt they were designed for the purpose of maximising pain and sorrow amongst Jewish people. It is both desperately sad and utterly predictable that, on learning of these horrific attacks on Jewish people in their own homeland, malicious actors here in Australia would draw inspiration from this. These bad actors here in Australia rejoiced in a day that was marked by the murder, torture, sexual assault and kidnapping of innocent people in Israel. And this is not exaggerated. In the words of one hate preacher, 7 October was 'a day of courage, a day of pride' and 'a day of victory'. And this is shameful. It was obvious that they would see those attacks as giving license to spread the same vile antisemitic hate here, targeting Jewish Australians and seeking to spread fear. They have used our streets and our university campuses to call for the destruction of the Jewish state and spread old antisemitic tropes. Often they are hiding behind weak academic pretence that somehow what they were doing was anti-Israel, not antisemitic. Preventing this should have been the government's focus, and this is where they have failed.

Now let's look at the difference in leadership between the Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, and the leader of the coalition, Peter Dutton, on antisemitism and terrorism. Australians look at the Prime Minister to set the tone of national response to a crisis, and he could have and should have made clear through his actions from the very beginning that those who sought to spread antisemitic attacks would feel the full force of the law. He could have and should have been clear right from the very beginning about the scale of the horror inflicted by Hamas and that Australia stands with its long-term friend and ally, Israel. He could and should have used our laws and our police forces to clamp down on those who sought to weaponise the Hamas attacks for their own hateful purposes here in Australia. Instead of decisive action, we saw a false equivalence from the Prime Minister and from the Australian Labor Party. For months we had Labor ministers who couldn't acknowledge domestic antisemitism without mentioning Islamophobia, as if one would offset the other. This was at a time when we had a nationally unprecedented rise in antisemitism. We had angry mobs standing outside the Opera House chanting, 'Death to the Jews.' We saw Jewish shops being vandalised, Jewish students being harassed and gangs roaming in places like Caulfield, hunting for Jews. The Prime Minister could only talk about antisemitism and Islamophobia together, almost as if acknowledging antisemitism here at home would somehow diminish the experience of Australian Muslims. Acknowledging Jewish Australians experiences of antisemitism does not diminish the experiences of Muslims here in Australia. Neither antisemitism nor Islamophobia has a place in our country and both should be condemned.

At the same time we are responding to an unprecedented wave of antisemitism in our country. However, when we are seeing armed guards outside Jewish schools, it is appropriate to focus on antisemitism. The Prime Minister did not do that, and his failure to do so was an indication that he did not take the threat of antisemitism seriously. It was a green light for those in Australia who wanted to take things further. We also saw the rolling failure to take decisive action here at home. Antisemitic displays were not prosecuted. Antisemitic protests were not stopped and so antisemitic sentiment was allowed to fester.

There are existing criminal laws, like division 80 of the Criminal Code, that are meant to deal with things like urging of violence against groups defined by race or religion. These laws were not used. Protests in our streets in which antisemitic displays abounded were permitted to drag on for months and months. Universities were permitted to be used as encampments that served as a hot-bed for antisemitic action. Our human rights institutions were not given focus or direction, nor called to account when they abandoned the Jewish community. The Prime Minister's response was drowsy and disinterested. Through his actions he sent a very clear message that despite what he might say, there would be no real consequences for those who target and attack Jewish Australians. This was the second green light for antisemites.

Let's now look at the leader of the coalition, Peter Dutton, and how he has made announcements to combat antisemitism. The list includes taking a national leadership role expected of the Commonwealth government, including convening a national cabinet to combat antisemitism and extremism. He will strengthen the sentencing regime for terrorism by legislating for a mandatory minimum term of six years imprisonment for all acts of terrorism under Commonwealth law. He want to amend draft laws currently before the parliament to make it a hate crime to urge or threaten violence towards a place of worship, punishable by imprisonment for five to seven years, in the case of an aggravated offence. He would introduce mandatory minimum sentences of 12 months imprisonment for the display of prohibited antisemitic terrorist organisation symbols and related behaviour in public and increase the maximum penalty to five years in prison. He'd create a new dedicated antisemitic taskforce led by the Australian Federal Police and incorporating the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analyst Centre, the Australian Border Force and the state police. He wants to issue a new ministerial direction to the AFP to direct them to prioritise and address antisemitism, including any unsolved crimes against the Jewish community such as doxxing, public display of terrorist symbols, incitement, harassment and other offences. He would direct the antisemitism taskforce to refer any visa holders involved in acts of antisemitism for immediate cancellation and deportation. If necessary, he would amend section 501's character provisions of the Migration Act to ensure this antisemitic conduct is captured by the law and applies retrospectively for all acts of hatred towards the Jewish community since 7 October 2023 and the terrorist acts against Israel. He will also deliver $32.5 million in security funding packages requested by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry without any strings attached, including funding armed guards at schools and synagogues. Unlike the Albanese government, which has restricted funding to armed guards only, Mr Dutton would commit $8.5 million to see a centre of Jewish life and tolerance become a reality and provide $7.5 million over three years in additional funding to Crime Stoppers to enable this. This is what leadership looks like. Peter Dutton and the coalition are committed to stamping out antisemitism, and that's what we intend to do should we become the government at the next federal election.

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