Exclusive: Former Labor senator says government’s hate crimes compromise is a ‘short-term political assessment’
Former Labor senator Kim Carr has criticised his former party’s “profoundly disappointing” decision to cave to the Coalition’s demands for mandatory jail terms for terror crimes and displaying hate symbols.
The government’s hate crimes legislation passed the lower house on Thursday morning after it agreed to introduce mandatory minimum sentences, including six years for terror offences, three years for financing terrorism and one year for displaying hate symbols.
The decision made public late on Wednesday night marked a dramatic shift from Labor, which resisted the Coalition’s proposal since it was announced on 20 January among a package of measures to combat antisemitism.
Labor’s own national platform opposes mandatory sentencing, stating the “practice does not reduce crime but does undermine the independence of the judiciary, lead to unjust outcomes and is often discriminatory in practice”.
Carr said the “clear breach” of Labor’s own national platform represented the actions of an under-pressure government seeking a short-term fix to a political problem.
“There is no doubt there’s a short-term political assessment, hopefully to get this issue off the table, which you will not achieve,” Carr told Guardian Australia.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, described minimum jail terms as “fraught” and “counterproductive” in days after the Coalition announcement.
But Albanese had changed his tune on Thursday morning, saying “I want people to be held to account”.
“Putting this in place and then having a review of how the laws are operating by the joint parliamentary committee on intelligence is an appropriate thing to do and something that we’ve worked through,” he told ABC News Breakfast.
“I want the entire parliament to work together to make sure that we stamp out antisemitism, that we hold people to account for what are crimes.”
In a speech on Tuesday afternoon, Labor MP Mike Freelander said he did not believe mandatory minimum sentencing was necessary. The comments from Freelander, who described himself as “a very proud Jewish Australian”, came just over 24 hours before Labor’s Wednesday night backflip.
“Ultimately, the perpetrators, I am confident, will be punished. I don’t believe in mandatory sentencing and I do believe that we should trust in the legal process,” Freelander told parliament on Tuesday.
“We do have the separation of powers and we do need to trust in the legal process to make sure that people are appropriately punished for the crimes they commit – and these are crimes. They’re terrible crimes.”
Carr, a former long-serving Labor senator, scolded his former party for breaking faith with its policy platform.
It is the second time Carr has rebuked the Albanese government over mandatory sentencing, after it agreed to include the provision in laws rushed through in response to the 2023 high court ruling on indefinite detention.
“It is a clear breach of the Labor party national platform, custom and practice,” Carr said on Thursday.
“It usually reflects that the government is under considerable pressure, and for short-term relief will find that a long-term precedent is set.”
Carr maintained that minimum jail terms undermined the independence of the courts.
