Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026. Since 7 October 2023, Australia's antisemitism crisis slowly evolved from words to protests, intimidation, harassment, fire bombings and, ultimately, catastrophe on 14 December 2025. Throughout this whole period, Australia did not have a problem with laws; it had a problem with enforcement. That was missing. Certainly, there's always room for refinement, but what was missing more than anything else was leadership. This government is seeking to use the law to fix the problems of absent leadership. After this tragedy, Australians wanted our leaders to unite our country and elevate the nation, but it was not to be. Instead, we had floated an omnibus bill that brought together new speech laws, firearms regulation, migration amendments and the creation of new prohibited hate groups, and we were told take it or leave it and decide in record time. This is not how a mature democracy nor a mature government behaves.

In response to the Bondi terrorist attacks, Jewish Australians have said the answer is to be more Jewish. And in response to a terrorist attack attacking our way of life and a government that is dismissive of our democratic processes, our parliament has rightly reasserted itself and our democratic processes and lived up to the best of our democratic institutions. The bills have now been split. The response from Goldstein constituents, Jewish and non-Jewish, to the government's so-called hate speech provisions was visceral. No-one would be surprised that I raised my own concerns about how these sections were drafted. The government has now withdrawn them.

The Jewish community has expressed their anger that the firearm provisions were a deliberate distraction from the broader issue. I'm happy to support the migration amendments, but the minister already has wide-ranging powers. The minister has been using them, of course, and we know he's been using them against Israeli visas. My hope is that he will use them against those who preach Islamic hatred and extremism instead.

Finally, my liberal instincts teach me to be wary of some of the new prohibited hate group powers, and I am wary of them. After reading the bill and having looked at the referral, oversight, transparency and renewal obligations, I think it's fair to say that I'm alert but not alarmed. The need for vigilance to oversee these new powers will be very important in protecting the community and also our liberal democratic norms.

I note some members in this debate have already talked about how these laws have been rushed through the parliament and normal processes have not been followed. I agree with some of those concerns, but I find it odd that they're seeking to move amendments to expand those powers without any proper process to be able to understand the consequences, and I caution them against doing so. We know the evil we are seeking to target, which is those people who preach hatred, particularly extremism and the radicalisation pathways that promote violence against Australia's community of Jewish heritage. We should understand that's the specific nature of the cause we're focused on now.

Anyone who thinks today's bills will cage the antisemitism threat that has been unleashed misunderstands the challenge and the necessary effort to contain it, just as the government misunderstood the consequences of leaving it unchecked. Their inaction will be judged as lacking moral clarity and courage when they were warned. They knew what was right, and they refused to act. Now is the time for good people to stand up. It will not be demonstrated in our words but, of course, in our deeds.

When we tolerate extremism against Australians of Jewish heritage, it does not end there. We have already seen an uptick in homophobic violence because we know that the equal and opposite reaction to one form of extremism is other varieties of the same. Social cohesion is essential to the type of Australia we want, not just for Australians of Jewish heritage but for every Australian. It will decide whether we honour our inheritance, and hand a nation that makes us proud to the next generation, or whether we knowingly blink in the face of those who sow discord.

Goldstein's constituents have lived with the cost of inaction, as many others have. They see the scale of the problem with clarity and can see that, too often, our nation's leaders have blinked. They are now looking to this parliament to lead and to give them hope that once again we can rebuild the safe and free nation that we want Australia to be, that it should be and that they desperately need it to be.

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