Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026. These laws come at a tragic time for our nation—14 December 2025 was a day when Islamist inspired terror came to Australia's shores and when terrorists with ISIS flags murdered Jewish Australians celebrating the first night of Hanukkah and others enjoying one of our most iconic beaches. It was an antisemitic attack—an act of pure evil—and it was the deadliest terrorist attack in our nation's history. They murdered 15 innocents and injured dozens more men, women and children. It was an attack on a community, on a nation and on every Australian. That day, the two attackers came with hatred in their minds and with lethal weapons in their hands. Today, this parliament is working to address both the motivation and the method of the attack, and we are sending a powerful message that there is no place for antisemitism in this country, there is no place for spreading hate in Australia and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia.

This legislation continues our commitment to implementing the recommendations of the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. However, this legislation does not reflect one key recommendation of the special envoy. Ms Segal recommended that the government strengthen federal, state and territory legislation addressing antisemitic and other hateful or intimidating conduct, including with respect to serious vilification offences and the public promotion of hatred and antisemitic sentiment. But, colleagues, these laws will not include racial vilification laws, which the Labor Party has long supported and which the government sought to bring forward. Those opposite have walked away from a key ask of the special envoy and a key ask of so many in the Jewish Australian community at this time.

I want to quote from my friend the member for Macnamara's speech earlier today. He said:

… after the Leader of the Opposition came to my electorate, last week, stood up in a synagogue and said that hate needed to be confronted and that there needed to be consequences. She said that if she were the prime minister, there would be. Within hours, the Liberal Party refused to support laws in this place that would do exactly that.

The Leader of the Opposition demanded that the government implement the Segal report in full, yet the Leader of the Opposition is blocking the government from doing precisely that. The Leader of the Opposition demanded hate speech laws, and then opposed them. The Leader of the Opposition demanded the return of parliament and then, when parliament was recalled, was against it.

Yesterday in the Senate we heard these words:

This parliament has a responsibility to ensure Jewish Australians can live freely and securely in the weeks, months and years ahead, to ensure community institutions are protected, to ensure threats are taken seriously, to ensure the law is enforced and to ensure that those who incite hatred—

those who incite hatred—

and glorify violence are met with consequences.

That was Senator Cash yesterday, and, Senator Cash, on this we agree. But, of course, we are not able to pass reforms which are directly targeting those who incite hatred because the Liberal and National party senators will not support reforms to combat racial vilification. They will not support them. And to even consider today's important legislative reform, we have narrowed the scope of the legislation at the coalition's request. So, it will be for the coalition to answer to the Jewish Australian community when instances of vile hate face no consequences.

Australians want their leaders to lead. They do not want self-interest. They do not want politics. They do not want division. And Australians want to stand with and behind the Jewish Australian community at this time of profound grief. We saw this unity in previous national crises like Port Arthur, the Bali bombings, the Lindt cafe siege. But not for Bondi. Instead of reaching for that higher ground, for national unity, the opposition sought to drag us down with division. But Australians see what the Liberal and National parties are doing. They see through it.

We know that the attackers at Bondi targeted Australian Jews because of who they are, and we know they were inspired by hateful, violent, intolerant and extreme ideology that has no place in our country. We will not give the terrorists what they seek, which is a divided nation turning Australian against Australian. For Jewish Australians, particularly those that came to Australia seeking refuge, their sense of safety, their sense of security has been shattered, and the trust they had in this country, in an Australia that values Jewish contributions to a multicultural society, needs to be rebuilt, and it is our collective responsibility to rebuild it.

So tonight, in this Senate, is the next step in ensuring that we work to stamp out the violent and hateful ideology that inspired this attack. The new laws being debated here specifically target those who seek to spread hatred, including those who seek to disrupt social cohesion in our community. The laws also create a regime for listing organisations that engage in hate speech or promote violence or racial hatred. The bill amends the Migration Act to introduce new grounds enabling a minister to refuse and cancel visas on the basis of hate motivated conduct and offences relating to the spread of hatred and extremism, and this is as it should be.

Organisations that proffer hateful ideologies must be outlawed and their members held accountable. We know one such group has already announced an intention to disband in anticipation of the effectiveness of these laws. Our Senate, our parliament, can send a strong message to a grieving nation tonight, and we must. We stand together against hate, and, together, light will prevail over darkness. I commend the bill to the Senate.