After Bondi, time must be taken to get race hate law changes right |
A week after the Bondi Beach massacre, and just three days before Christmas, Sussan Ley was insistent. The nation’s federal parliamentarians ought to be in Canberra legislating to protect Australia’s Jewish community from antisemitism.
“We should be back in parliament strengthening those hate speech laws today,” Ley said on December 22. “Instead, the prime minister has pushed it into the weeks ahead, saying it’s all too hard to do now.” Branding the government’s proposals to toughen hate speech laws as “not sufficient”, Ley said recalling parliament “needs to be done now”.
Anthony Albanese has recalled parliament early to respond to the Bondi Beach terror attack.Credit: Edwina Pickles
What a difference a month makes. Parliament is set to resume on Monday for two days of emergency sittings, a fortnight ahead of schedule. Suddenly, the Coalition is accusing the government of moving with undue haste and many of its MPs believe the proposed hate speech laws are too tough, rather than too weak.
Recalling parliament for rancorous legislative debate while the 15 victims of the attack were still being buried would have been a terrible idea, further politicising a tragedy that had already inflamed rather than calmed existing community divisions. The days immediately after a traumatic incident are not the right time to make complex changes to the nation’s laws. High emotion can be a barrier to thoughtful policymaking. Often, it can lead to overreach.
One example: the 2014 rush, championed by rival media outlets, including this masthead, to implement sweeping lockout laws in Sydney’s pubs and bars in response to the deaths of two young men in random acts of alcohol-related violence. The laws were wound back five years later after........