James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

I know time is brief and there are others on the speaking list. I don't want to take away their opportunity to make a contribution, so I will also be brief and make a couple of points. It is a good thing that the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024 will pass the parliament today. It will send a strong message to those who are responsible for the attacks against the Jewish community, in particular, in recent months, that there are very real consequences for their behaviour, that the Parliament of Australia does not tolerate it and that we want them to feel the full force of the law to deter them from engaging in any more terrorisation of the Jewish community.

But it is a shame that this legislation did not pass earlier. Senator Cash and I wrote to the Attorney-General and the Minister for Home Affairs before Christmas. This bill was introduced in September. We offered them bipartisan support to pass this legislation before Christmas because we were concerned about what might happen over the summer to our Jewish community. Unfortunately, our worst fears were realised, and a summer of terror was unleashed against the Jewish community, starting with the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue and continuing with the firebombing of cars, the targeting of homes and even the firebombing of a childcare centre among others, including small businesses. And it left our Jewish community terrorised. It would have been very good, had these laws already been on the books and had they been able to be used by our law enforcement agencies over the summer, to stop these crimes and to punish people for these crimes, but this is where we are.

It is also a good thing that this legislation has been strengthened. This legislation has been strengthened by the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences for terrorism offences. It has been strengthened by the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences for the display of prohibited hate symbols, including the flags and logos of listed terrorist organisations, and it has been strengthened by a specific prohibition on advocating violence against places of worship and other institutions significant to people of faith, including religious schools and religious centres. None of that would have happened if it were not for Peter Dutton and the coalition. All of those were demands that we made of the government. All of those were demands that the government initially said were unreasonable and unnecessary.

It was only Tuesday in this chamber that Labor senators voted against a motion calling for the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences. It was only last week that the prime minister dismissed the need for mandatory minimum sentences. It was only two days ago that Minister Watt said that mandatory minimum sentences were not part of Labor's policy or platform and that they would not be introduced. This is yet another example of the coalition leading the government on national security and community safety. Because their instincts are not right the first time, they have to be pressured publicly into taking the tough decisions necessary to protect our community, and it is yet more of an example of why the weak leadership of the Prime Minister cannot continue, or our country will get further off track. Only the strong leadership of a Peter Dutton coalition government can deal with these crises, because Peter Dutton does have the right instincts. He does understand the seriousness of the disaster that we're facing in our country, and he is willing to make the tough decisions to act. He won't need to be pressured into acts like this to send a strong signal to people undermining social cohesion and community safety in our country; he will do it because he believes in it. If you're going to have a strong leader, you might as well have the real one, not one who's a pale imitation of it.