United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet has introduced a bill to enshrine freedom of speech in the Australian Constitution following the passage of restrictive new federal laws.
Mr Babet on Wednesday presented the Constitution Alteration (Right to Free Speech) Bill 2025 to the Senate, comparing his proposal to the United States First Amendment and calling for a referendum on the issue.
The Senator for Victoria has been a vocal critic of new hate crimes laws that were passed last week, calling the bill “vague, poorly designed, and wide open for abuse by the radical left to criminally target those they disagree with”.
Free speech is essential for democracy, allowing open debate, challenging authority, and protecting individual rights. It fosters innovation, exposes corruption, and ensures diverse viewpoints are heard. Without it, truth is suppressed, dissent is silenced, and society risks… pic.twitter.com/7zaN0qYQNV
— Senator Babet (@senatorbabet) February 12, 2025
“This bill is urgently needed and will provide protection of a right that many Australians assume they already have. This assumption, though, is increasingly dangerous. While freedom of speech in this country is generally assumed, it is not guaranteed. Indeed, it is always under threat,” Mr Babet told the Senate.
“Over the past decade, the right of Australians to say what they think has been increasingly infringed upon, and, while Australian parliaments have made no efforts at all to protect speech, they have, however, passed laws at state and federal level to restrict freedom of speech.
“We are now at a point where it is dangerous to openly say things that most people privately believe. It’s a brave person, for example, who opines that men cannot become women. Is that really the kind of country that we want to live in—a country in which stating a simple truth puts a person in danger of being dragged before a tribunal to be interrogated for their words?”
Mr Babet said that he believed the Australian people, if given the opportunity, would vote in favour of his bill, as everyday Aussies believed in a fair go.
“My proposed alteration to the Constitution will protect freedom of expression, along similar lines to the first amendment in the United States constitution, which provides that congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press,” he said.
“My bill will put the brakes on efforts to suppress speech, which is shockingly becoming more and more common all around the Western world, especially here in Australia.”
Mr Babet’s proposal was applauded by his followers, who left hundreds of approving comments.
Independent Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick, who voted no to the government’s hate crimes bill along with Mr Babet and just four others, also spoke out in favour of a free speech amendment on Monday, saying the Australian cultural trait of “taking the piss” was under threat.
“We can’t allow the media and politicians to whip up an atmosphere of hate amongst Australians only to have them turn around and use that hate to justify bringing in laws to censor and control you,” he told his social media followers.
“It’s time free speech was enshrined in the constitution.”
The hate crimes bill, which was rushed through parliament by Labor last week due to pressure from the Coalition to act on Australia’s so-called anti-Semitism crisis, created new offences for threatening force or violence against an expanded list of “targeted groups” and imposed mandatory minimum sentences.
Victoria is also expected to pass new anti-vilification laws as a result of lobbying from Jewish groups, and NSW Premier Chris Minns was expected to introduce similar legislation in the coming weeks after vowing to restrict free speech to counter anti-Semitism, but is now facing pushback from within his party.
Header image credit: Ralph Babet (Facebook).
