February 6, 2025 – National LGBTIQ+ group Equality Australia says the Federal Government has missed an opportunity to stamp out hate speech by not including serious vilification in its Hate Crimes Bill. 

The Bill was passed by Federal Parliament with bipartisan support on Thursday afternoon. 

Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown said the government’s 11th-hour amendments to the Bill on Wednesday night failed to adequately protect vulnerable communities from hate speech while capitulating to Coalition demands on mandatory sentencing. 

“While we welcome the fact that for the first time LGBTIQ+ people are protected from threats of violence under federal law, the government has missed an opportunity to stamp out all forms ofhate speech and in doing so protect vulnerable groups from the real-world violence it spawns,” she said. 

“LGBTIQ+ people and other minorities will still have no protections against people who target them by promoting hate, serious contempt or severe ridicule. Outlawing incitement to violence while ignoring the toxic rhetoric and harassment that leads to it is simply putting a Band-Aid on a much bigger wound.” 

Ms Brown welcomed the Bill’s inclusion of children, families and friends as protected ‘associates’ of LGBTIQ+ people, although she said it stopped short of including other groups such as librarians and councillors who are increasingly caught in the crossfire when LGBTIQ+ people are targeted by hate. 

She also raised concerns about the inclusion of mandatory minimum sentencing, which is currently only reserved for the most serious sex offences.  

“Some of the last-minute measures included in this Bill could have a disproportionate effect on already marginalised people,” she said. 

“Mandatory sentencing doesn’t work; it undermines judicial discretion and runs the very real risk of further fracturing social cohesion and making all communities less safe.” 

Media contact: Emily Mulligan, emily.mulligan@equalityaustralia.org.au, 0411 207 633