Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like 9/11, we all remember where we were on 14 December last year. For me, I was at a Gold Coast Hanukkah celebration at the exact same time that the Bondi attack went down. It was a really good opportunity to have the Jewish community on the Gold Coast come together for what was supposed to be a very joyful, positive, light filled celebration. Halfway through the ceremony, I was tapped on the shoulder and informed about the tragedy that was unfolding in Sydney. I looked around at the families, at the kids, the parents, the grandparents and the beautiful Jewish community that we have on the Gold Coast. It hit me that what unfolded in Sydney could well and truly have been something that unfolded in that crowd.

I've been speaking about the rise of antisemitism in this country since I entered the parliament mid-last year. It's something that has to be stamped out, and it's something that as a country we should have taken a tougher stand against. It's something that the Jewish community has long been calling for us to do. What happened in Bondi—let's be clear—was the result of two things: antisemitism and radical Islam. These were the root causes. Hatred and extremism have no place in Australia, and, from day one, we as the coalition said that we would work constructively with the government to address this. Instead what we saw was that the government delayed parliament, resisted calls for a royal commission and produced what was unfit legislation that not only failed to address those root causes that I've spoken about but also severely threatened free speech. Over the last couple of weeks, I've spoken to many people in my electorate—and I've received countless pieces of correspondence from them—who expressed those concerns. They're very real concerns that we in the coalition listen to.

The former bill, as I said, was so unfit for purpose that even the government conceded failure. They scrapped their racial vilification laws and have left the coalition to clean up the wreckage.

This new bill which is before us now creates new and tougher penalties for crimes motivated by antisemitism and radical Islamic extremism, and it supports tougher action on radical Islamic extremists in positions of influence, specifically targeting those who radicalise or recruit people towards violent or extremist conduct. It also establishes a prohibited extremist group listing regime. Radical Islamic extremist groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir have long operated as conveyor belts to extremism, and internationally they're banned or restricted. In Australia they've operated without consequence and have fuelled antisemitism.

This new bill expands the Migration Act to allow visa refusal or cancellation for spreading hatred and extremism, including for involvement in hate-crime conduct, hateful public statements or links to terrorist prohibited hate groups, and this includes those who glorify violence, fuel antisemitism and radicalise individuals. It's in our national interest that the laws relating to cancellation and refusal of visas be strengthened to ensure that the Australian government of the day has the powers to protect the Australian people.

The amendments proposed are reasonable and proportionate by the coalition, and they will enhance the ability of the government to cancel the visas of those who engage in antisemitic rhetoric, Islamic extremism—which is the extremism underpinning Islamic State and other terrorist organisations—and other extremist ideologies which pose a risk of harm to the Australian people. This is not about politics; it's about community safety, confidence in the rule of law, standing with Jewish Australians and confronting Islamic extremism honestly and directly. Australians expect their parliament to name the problem and tackle it properly, and I'm confident that we can do that today.

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