Posted on Thursday, 15 January
The Socialist Party stands against The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill (2026). This bill, which is being rammed through parliament early next week is a significant attack on Australian civil liberties and the right to protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It includes a series of amendments to existing fields of legislation including the Migration Act and the Crimes Act.
These amendments could have the effect of criminalising criticism of the state of Israel, especially given its self definition as a Jewish state. We are deeply concerned that this bill enshrines elements of Jillian Segal’s report. A report which was widely criticised by civil liberties organisations.
Furthermore, the bill gives a series of very broad powers to the heads of ASIO and the Minister for Home Affairs. Three individuals can prohibit organisations on the basis that they might have merely “prepared or planned to engage in, or assisted the engagement in, conduct constituting a hate crime targeted at a person or persons distinguished by race or national or ethnic origin”. This is an extremely broad ranging and vague basis on which organisations could be banned.
The threshold for prohibiting an organisation is lower than the current listing of terror organisations, which specifies that a group must be engaged in “ preparing, planning or assisting in the doing of a terrorist act”. The new hate speech legislation will allow for the banning of groups on the grounds it is “reasonably necessary to prevent social, economic, psychological and physical harm”. This allows for the imprisoning of people on the basis of thought crimes, for up to fifteen years.
It is alarming that the bill states that procedural fairness will not be required in deciding if an organisation should be prohibited.
These new laws run counter to the implied right to freedom of speech in the constitution, and have been opposed by the Australian Lawyers Alliance, with representative Greg Barnes, sc, concerned that rushing the laws through without adequate consultation was dangerous. Barnes urged caution because of the risks to civil liberties.
The Socialist Party opposes giving government agencies more power to restrict free speech. The laws are designed to push the law to the "constitutional limit”, according to Tony Burke. They will do nothing to address racism and antisemitism.
The laws are being introduced in the context of a month-long campaign by the media, the political right and the government against the Palestine movement. This is an attempt to blame the pro-Palestine movement for the atrocity at Bondi. This context shows the intent of the introduction of these new laws. For this reason, the Socialist Party is against the introduction of the rushed legislation.
We disagree with the calls from Allegra Spender and others to include other oppressed groups in the laws. This will not make the new laws more acceptable, and ignores the context for their introduction. The new laws need to be voted down, not tweaked. The fundamentals are the problem.
The Socialist Party calls on the Australian Greens to oppose these laws, and vote down the bill in parliament. The Greens have stood with the Palestine movement and historically have supported civil liberties. We call on the Greens to maintain this position.