I rise today in strong support of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-Vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill 2024.
It is legislation that will deliver the strongest anti-vilification protections in Victoria’s history – giving effect to 15 recommendations of the 2021 Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-vilification Protections.
Now I have listened to the debate today. And while it’s sometimes been heated, I’ve nevertheless been heartened to hear that there is, overall, a general consensus about the need to do more to protect Victorians from rising and alarming levels of hate speech and conduct.
And that reflects the sentiments in by own community of Northcote too. I support this Bill after having spoken to a great many people in my community, people with a diversity of views on this topic, people who have valid questions and even reservations but who on the whole have a genuine hope that with these new laws will curb the disturbing trends we have been seeing and allow us to collectively demonstrate that HATE HAS NO PLACE IN VICTORIA.
Hate will NOT define who we are.
Speaker, people in my community are deeply concerned about the rise of extreme views and groups.
In conversations around dinner tables, in classrooms, in the office kitchen or over drinks with friends – people are talking about the far-right movement; about online agitators and bots spreading misinformation; about people being radicalised; about coordinated campaigns of harassment designed to stoke division and destabilise democracies.
These aren’t abstract concepts.
They are real threats – real, frightening threats to our social cohesion and our way of life.
ASIO currently assesses our terrorism threat as “probable” – having been increased from “possible” in August last year.
Director-General of Security, Mike Burgess explains, and I quote:
“More Australians are being radicalised, and radicalised more quickly. More Australians are embracing a more diverse range of extreme ideologies, and more Australians are willing to use violence to advance their cause.”
“We are seeing spikes in political polarisation and intolerance, uncivil debate and unpeaceful protest. Anti-authority beliefs are growing; trust in institutions is eroding; provocative and inflammatory behaviours are being normalised.”
He goes on:
“Many of these individuals will not necessarily espouse violent views, but may still see violence as a legitimate way to effect political or societal change. All this creates a security climate that is more permissive of violence.”
Speaker, people are genuinely worried. I am worried.
We are here in this parliament, in this great hall of democratic debate, with the privilege and the honour to debate legislation in peace and safety. We live in a country that has been buffered from so much of the terror and horrors we’ve witnessed on our screens.
We cannot take that for granted – not ever.
And frankly we have absolutely no reason to believe that democracy will ultimately win the day, overseas or here at home.
History is not on our side – democracy is not the rule; it’s the exception. And there are no guarantees that it will continue to prevail against its resurgent competitors of authoritarianism or anarchy.
What holds our form of government together? What preserves the sovereignty of our people, and our precious ability to go to the ballot box and cast a vote on who will represent us – and to change that vote if our trust is broken?
It’s a culture of respect, Speaker.
Democracy breaks down when hate takes the place of disagreement.
I may have differing views to my opponents across the way, but they are not my enemies – they are my opponents. Politics is not WAR – it’s the alternative to WAR.
And yet what we have seen, what we are seeing increasingly, is divisive rhetoric taking the place of genuine discourse.
Political extremism thrives in this environment, driven by the promise of simple solutions and fuelled by stigmatising otherness.
The targets? People of colour, people with disabilities, women, LGBTIQA+ Victorians, and people of faith – and lately, Victoria’s Jewish communities.
Jewish families in our community have woken up to find neo-Nazi stickers on their letterboxes. We have seen Jewish schools and synagogues not only defaced with racist graffiti, but also, terrifyingly, a fire-bombing.
This is not just offensive. It is targeted. It is deliberate. And it is dangerous.
History teaches us that hate left unchecked does not go away—it escalates.
This Bill is about confronting that reality. It is about ensuring that those who seek to incite hate, threaten harm, or target people based on their identity face serious legal consequences.
It is about making our communities stronger, safer and more united.
I want to make it very, very clear that in our state every Victorian has the right to protest peacefully, without putting others in harm’s way. We will always defend that.
As someone with Labor values, I will always defend the critical right to protest, to political expression, to collective action.
We owe so many of our most precious advancements in this state to these movements and those who stood up for what they believed in.
Equally, we are a party that upholds the rights, dignity and safety of all Victorians.
No one should have to see Neo-Nazis parading their hateful ideologies in the street, nor be subject to violent activity or criminal property damage by the far-left.
When that is occurring, we need to step back and reflect. Because when that is occurring it means that anger, fear and cynicism have won the day – it means nuance is lost in policy debates because in hate there is no room for disagreement.
The struggle between democracy and authoritarianism doesn’t just happen on a big global scale. It happens in the day-to-day actions that we take, and the decisions we make to either honour human dignity or to dehumanise.
And that is a decision that every single one of us need to make – and political parties need to also make – when they consider how they conduct themselves and whose voices they seek to elevate and platform.
Because frankly there are some who have really shown their dark side this last year. Some who rather than offering compassion or constructive dialogue or peaceful protest – have preferred to be complicit in undemocratic acts of hate and violence.
Or rather than offering actual aid have opted to fetishise and exploit the suffering of others. Often simply to attract a social media following for their political party.
It’s an ugly, toxic thing to witness – and Victorians deserve better from the people who are meant to be the custodians of their democracy.
Hate speech, incitement and vilification have no place in our community and victims need clear pathways to justice.
That is what this bill delivers by expanding protections to also cover attributes of disability, gender identity, sex, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, and personal association with a person or group with a protected attribute.
It introduces two new serious vilification offences under the Crimes Act. Those are the:
· Incitement offence applying to conduct that is objectively likely to incite hatred against, serious contempt for, revulsion towards or severe ridicule of, another person or a group of persons, on the grounds of a protected attribute.
And the
· Threat offence: This offence applies if a person threatens physical harm or property damage against a person or group on the ground of a protected attribute.
Both offences capture intentional and reckless conduct – we’re talking cases of extremely serious conduct – not just unkind or offensive conduct.
There is, as others have outlined, a range of defences that can be utilised – including a genuine political purpose defence to ensure the incitement offence is consistent with the Constitutional implied freedom of political communication and genuine political communication is not inappropriately criminalised.
So Speaker, unlike those opposite, we have taken the time to carefully draft this Bill and to respect the feedback and findings from the inquiry as well as stakeholders and community members.
Of course there will always be varying views on where the balance needs to be struck, but I believe this Bill represents a goal supported by the majority – a modern, diverse, safe and free state that does not tolerate vilification.
I want to thank the Member for Preston for his contribution tonight as well – his concerns about the polarisation of public debate and the reductionist politics being played by in particular the Greens and Socialists which is so damaging and stigmatising was incredibly well articulated.
We must hold ourselves to a higher standard – to enable dialogue, not division.
This Bill is about protecting every Victorian—regardless of their race, faith, gender, disability, or sexual orientation—from the corrosive effects of vilification.
This is not about abstract policy debates—this is about real people, real communities, and real safety.
Victoria is one of the most diverse, progressive, and inclusive places in the world—and that is something worth fighting for.
To those who spread hate: your time is up. This Government will hold you to account.
To those who have been targeted: we have your back. And we always will.
The Greens can complain from the sidelines, or they can join us in passing the strongest anti-vilification laws in our state’s history.
Because in Northcote, in Victoria, in every corner of this state—hate will never win.
I commend this Bill to the House.
