Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: Australia passes toughest hate crime laws in its history – Legal Perspective
The Albanese Government has now introduced the toughest federal hate crime laws in Australian history after its new legislation to combat antisemitism, hate, and extremism passed 116-7 on Tuesday. The Act was introduced in response to the antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025.
The Combating Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Act 2026 expands and strengthens Commonwealth criminal offences to address the spread of hatred and extremism.
The Act includes antisemitism, through: increased penalties for hate crime offences; new aggravated penalties for preachers and leaders who advocate or threaten violence; a new framework to enable organisations that engage in conduct constituting a hate crime to be listed as prohibited hate groups, and expanded prohibited hate symbols offences.
It also establishes stricter rules for firearm ownership and import.
The final version was amended slightly from a previous draft version, which sparked condemnation over its racial vilification law, which would have made it a criminal offence to promote racial hatred, but which some said would criminalize freedom of speech.
Law includes ‘prohibited hate groups’
Nevertheless, laws around inciting racial hatred appear elsewhere, such as in the permission to ban “prohibited hate groups”. In terms of banning a group, the Minister must first decide whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that a group has engaged in a hate crime, or has planned or advocated one.
The minister must then decide that banning the group is necessary to protect Australians, or at least part of the community, from harm. The minister must also receive a recommendation to ban the group from the Australian director-general of security.
“The Albanese Government has acted swiftly to bolster the safety and security of the Australian community in response to the horrific antisemitic terrorist act at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025,” said Attorney-General Michelle Rowland MP. “The legislation sends a clear message that those who seek to spread hate and division, including those who seek to radicalise our youth, will be met with appropriate penalties.”
She added, “The passing of these laws to combat antisemitism, hate, and extremism is another vital step towards a safer, more unified Australia.”
However, critics of the bill have highlighted the problems with the minister being responsible for deciding what constitutes a hate crime, whether it has been committed, and whether it should be banned – things which are typically assessed by courts.
Anti-Israel critics have also expressed anger over the potential that groups or individuals could be punished for saying Israel should not exist, or that Israel is genocidal, so long as it is deemed to be harming Jewish Australians.
Rowland suggested, when asked, that “if those criteria are satisfied, then that is the case,” which some have suggested blurs the line between legitimate protest and hate crime offenses.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price called Albanese out for the “Appalling way in which he rammed this shocking bill through the parliament without proper consideration or scrutiny, and for forcing ill-considered laws on the Australian people.”
“The restriction on firearms is a distraction-by-design. Labor is only seeking to be tough on gun laws because it’s utterly weak in confronting the root causes of antisemitism – in particular, radical left protesters and Islamist extremists.
“The legislation contains a flawed hate crime definition that is incredibly broad in scope. I’m concerned it could be weaponized. And I’m worried about the unforeseen consequences of this legislation and its ramifications for free speech,” she added.
Nampijinpa Price also said she had spoken to multiple Jewish Australians who had issues with the legislation, believing it failed to address the root causes of antisemitism and believed it would fail to combat antisemitism.
However, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion KC said the Bill is another “substantial step towards achieving effective laws against the deliberate promotion of hatred of groups or individuals based on their skin colour or national or ethnic origin.
“Even though the creation of a criminal offence to that effect was deleted from the Bill, a new legal regime has been established to enable the government to proscribe extremist hate groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir and neo-Nazi organisations,” he said.
Aghion pointed out that “no legislation is perfect,” but that it nevertheless represented an achievement, and that the speed of its passage demonstrates that parliament can work quickly and decisively when needed.