Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Australian Law Reform Commission report Fighting words: a review of sedition laws in Australia. Labor welcomes this report and, in doing so, reminds those in the chamber of the unfortunate way these laws were rushed through the parliament by this government last November—legislation that could have been reviewed by the Australian Law Reform Commission before it went to a vote in the parliament.

Labor opposes the sedition laws being part of the antiterror laws and the amendments that were made to them. The sedition provisions were opposed, too, by a Senate committee that comprised opposition and government senators. Media organisations, arts organisations, community organisations, lawyer groups and many members of the general public opposed these sedition provisions that formed part of the legislation.

The ALRC report confirms what Labor knew all along: the term ‘sedition’ should be removed from federal criminal law; these sedition laws are ill conceived and do not do the job of protecting Australia in the way that they should.