Premier Chris Minns flags new measures, which would make certain types of protests a criminal offence, in response to ‘racial hatred and antisemitism’
The New South Wales government has proposed legislation that could make certain types of protests outside places of worship a criminal offence amid growing fears about antisemitism.
The reforms are part of a broader measures in response to a wave of arson attacks and antisemitic vandalism over the past two months in Sydney.
“We have seen disgusting acts of racial hatred and antisemitism,” the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said. “These are strong new laws and they need to be because these attacks have to stop.
“These laws have been drafted in response to the horrifying antisemitic violence in our community but it’s important to note that they will apply to anyone, preying on any person, of any religion.”
The government had already flagged in December it was considering new laws to regulate protests outside places of worship after a protest outside Sydney’s Great Synagogue.
The proposed laws would expand the Crimes Act to make it an offence to block access to the place of worship without reasonable excuse, or from “harassing, intimidating or threatening” people accessing places of worship. The offence would carry a maximum of two years in prison.
The changes would also provide police with associated move-on powers.
Displaying a Nazi symbol on or near a synagogue would also become an offence under the new laws and would carry a two-year maximum prison sentence. The Graffiti Control Act would be amended to create an aggravated offence for graffiti on a place of worship.
These potential changes come after two synagogues in Sydney were vandalised on 10 January and 11 January with swastikas and an attempt was made to set one on fire. No one has been arrested over the 10 January incident while two men have been charged in relation to the 11 January attack.
Under the proposed legislative changes, sentencing could factor in whether an offence was “wholly” or “partially” motivated by hatred or prejudice.
The state government has also officially announced another proposed law flagged a few weeks ago, which would make it a criminal offence to intentionally incite racial hatred in a bid to stamp out hate speech. It would also carry a two-year maximum prison sentence.
Inciting racial hatred is already a civil offence under the Anti-Discrimination Act. The change would make it a criminal offence.
The move comes despite a government report commissioned last year recommending against including inciting racial hatred in the Crimes Act.
Tom Bathurst KC, the chair of the NSW Law Reform Commission and a former supreme court chief justice, found such laws could “introduce imprecision and subjectivity into the criminal law”.
Jewish groups and LGBTQ+ rights advocates made submissions supporting making inciting hatred a criminal offence, while other faith groups advised against it.
The federal government has also come under renewed pressure to outlaw vilification in its hate crimes bill before parliament to stop hate “at its source”.
The NSW government announced it will also increase funding for the NSW police engagement and hate crime unit by $525,000 and provide a $500,000 increase to a grants program for social cohesion.
“Our multicultural society is one of our greatest achievements, but it is not something we can afford to take for granted. It requires our constant attention,” the NSW multiculturalism minister, Steve Kamper, said.
“Blocking access to places of worship, graffitiing sacred sites or inciting hatred are wholly unacceptable behaviours that have no place in our society,” the attorney general, Michael Daley, said.
“The entire community will be safer as a direct result of these changes. The proposed changes will mean that divisive and hateful behaviours will not succeed in dividing our community.”
