Albanese ‘stunned’ as Coalition raises ‘extremely serious concerns’ about antisemitism bill

“From what we have seen so far, it looks pretty unsalvageable. As it stands, the government’s proposal is half-baked, and Australians deserve far better.”

The quoting of religious texts has been written into the bill as a legitimate defence in the new hate speech offences, and serves as a legal stopgap to the explicit constitutional right to freedom of religious expression. Ley criticised the measure as a “guide for hate preachers by telling them exactly what they need to do in order to continue to promote racial hatred”.

Questioned about the constitutional implications of not having such a carve-out, Ley said: “The government has presented a bill with a carefully planned excuse for hate preachers. I think they have opportunities to get around that.”

Ley met senior Coalition MPs on Wednesday, expressing her reservations about the speed at which the bill had been brought forward. A mix of moderate and conservative MPs within the opposition have publicly and privately expressed their concerns about the package, with some contacting Jewish community leaders to explain their rationale for opposing the bill.

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Albanese said he had met repeatedly with both Ley and Greens leader Larissa Waters to discuss the legislation, and was open to amendments. He said no amendments had been proposed to him so far.

“I just find it astonishing that people who were arguing this was absolutely urgent – it was on the front page of papers day after day after day – and now they’re saying: ‘Oh no, well, actually, it’s not that urgent’,” Albanese said.

“I saw one comment from [Liberal MP] Andrew Hastie saying that this could wait until after the royal commission, so pushed into 2027 before anything is done. Well, on the one hand, they’re saying, do it in Christmas week of 2025, and now they’re talking about pushing things off until 2027,” he said.

Speaking to Seven’s Sunrise on Thursday morning, Burke said: “If the opposition, after all of this, opposed the exact sorts of legislation they’ve been calling for, then the hypocrisy of what they’ve been calling for the last four weeks is just really disappointing.”

“I think everyone comes from a real sense of goodwill. And let’s do everything we can to try to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. And let’s take on bigotry, let’s take on the gun laws, let’s make sure that we’re acting. So I’m still hoping that people’s better senses will come through,” Burke said.

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The bill includes a provision to criminalise membership or support of extremist organisations, with a penalty of up to 15 years’ jail. Neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network has in response disbanded.

“The Nazis are taking a significant step backwards. None of this means that the hate in these individuals goes away, but it is making it more and more difficult for them to organise, and that’s why I can’t, for the life of me, see how the Liberal Party have got themselves to the point where they’re now effectively opposing the legislation,” Burke told ABC radio on Thursday.

Controversial Islamic fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, also targeted under the laws, told the ABC they “cannot be banned” and were “neither hateful nor violent”.

On Thursday the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance – the union which represents journalists and creatives – urged the parliament to reject the government’s bill, saying it “undermines core principles of press freedom and freedom of artistic expression”.

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