The NSW Labor government is fast-tracking new “hate speech laws” that will create a new criminal offence for intentionally inciting racial hatred.
The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Racial and Religious Hatred) Bill 2025, which will establish a new section, 93ZAA, was announced by Attorney-General Michael Daley on Tuesday, was rammed through the lower house just hours later, and then introduced to the upper house.
Mr Daley warned the public to “be careful” as he introduced the bill and stressed the new offence would apply to the incitement of hatred, fear or intimidation on the basis of race, regardless of whether the person targeted actually did feel hated, fearful or intimidated.
🚨BREAKING: The NSW Labor Government has introduced the ‘Racial Religious Hatred’ Bill to Parliament.
Elements of this bill will create new criminal offences for “the incitement of hatred, fear or intimidation towards another person or group on the basis of race.”
It will NOT… pic.twitter.com/DDEL1dkMVj
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In addition to making it crime to “intentionally and publicly incite hatred towards another person, or group of people, on the grounds of race”, the legislation introduces a new offence directed to the display of a Nazi symbol on or near a synagogue or place of worship, Jewish school or the Sydney Jewish Museum.
The bill also amends existing graffiti offences to make it an aggravated offence to graffiti a place of worship, and makes hatred or prejudice as a motive for an offence an aggravating factor in sentencing.
Premier Chris Minns said the laws were being brought in to combat “racial hatred and anti-Semitism”, following a series of alleged graffiti and arson attacks targeted at the Jewish community.
“These are strong new laws because this disgraceful behaviour must stop,” he said.
“NSW is a multicultural state. The people of NSW already stand against racial hatred, and we are making it criminal with this law.
“While this package confronts recent anti-Semitism, the new laws will apply to anyone, preying on any person.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said alleged “domestic terrorism” carried out against the Jewish community began with “words of hate”.
“We welcome the government’s plans to respond to this emergency situation by urgently outlawing hate speech which is so egregious that it directly presages the violence which has erupted on our streets,” he said.
But Greens justice spokesperson Sue Higginson said Labor was trying to “morally bully” parliament by ramming the laws through, and faith groups have warned they could cause societal division and marginalise some sections of the community.
Faith NSW chief executive Murray Norman told The Sydney Morning Herald warned the laws needed to be applied “without favour or prejudice” in order to maintain social cohesion.
And Bilal Rauf, senior advisor to the Australian National Imams Council, said expanding Section 93Z based only on race sent the wrong message, and could make some religious groups feel “marginalised and ignored”, while raising concerns about “islamophobia”.
“It conveys to the community (and society at large) that some hate is more reprehensible than other hate. Put differently, constraining the scope of the offence to race has the effect of privileging some communities over others,” he said.
“This sends the – surely unintended – message that it is unacceptable to hate someone because of their race, but acceptable (or at least more tolerable) to hate someone because of their religion.”
Header image: NSW Premier Chris Minns meets members of the Jewish community after an alleged anti-Semitic attack in November (Facebook).
