Anthony Albanese will push the Coalition and the Greens to support urgent legislation proposing tougher hate speech laws and gun reform, bringing MPs back to Canberra next Monday in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
Recalling parliament two weeks early, the prime minister said hate speech and anti-vilification laws would be considered in the same legislation as provisions to establish the biggest gun buyback program since the Port Arthur massacre.
But he denied the plan was an attempt to wedge Nationals and Liberals opposed to tougher rules on gun ownership.
“The terrorists at Bondi beach had hatred in their minds, but guns in their hands. This law will deal with both,” Albanese said.
Albanese confirmed parliament would sit for two days, on 19 and 20 January. Parliament was to return for the year on 3 February.
The government promised to crack down on so-called “hate preachers”, creating a new racial vilification offence and listing groups as prohibited hate groups, a lower threshold than the terror group listing.
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Jewish groups, the opposition and crossbench MPs will be briefed on the hate speech legislation from this afternoon, with the bill to be released publicly tomorrow .
The legislation will also be reviewed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security ahead of its introduction.
The prime minister would not confirm whether he has bipartisan support from the opposition for the plan, but said he expects the laws to pass the Senate by Tuesday night.
The laws will increase penalties for hate crime offences, and ensures that offenders whose crimes are motivated by extremism have that factored into their sentencing.
The bill will also create a new framework for the home affairs minister to list organisations as prohibited hate groups and set up a national guns buyback scheme.
The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said the laws would be “the toughest hate laws Australia has ever seen”.
“They will specifically target those who seek to spread hatred and disrupt social cohesion in our community. And it will send a clear message that this conduct will not be tolerated,” Rowland said.
Albanese denied that the legislation was being rushed through parliament, and said all parties would have a week to consider it.
“There have been times when legislation has been introduced and carried through both houses in a day, people are going to have a week before parliament sits to examine this legislation, we’ll provide a full briefing to the opposition this afternoon … I have a call scheduled with [Greens leader] Larissa Waters this afternoon. We will make the officials available to all of the crossbenchers as well as to the Greens, from tomorrow,” he said.
“I think that there is an urgency, but [it’s] matched with getting it right.”
The government has consulted with Jewish groups in the lead-up to drafting the hate speech reforms. Albanese confirmed he spoke with the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, on Monday.
Wertheim, prior to Albanese announcing the recall of parliament, welcomed the government tightening the laws, but warned they needed to be done properly.
“It is essential that these reforms live up to their billing. The country cannot accept another round of reforms that fail to do the job expected of them,” Wertheim said.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said she would consider the government’s legislation but warned Albanese against playing politics with the response to Bondi.
“We are deeply sceptical of the prime minister’s decision to introduce a single bill that will attempt to cover multiple complex and unrelated policy areas, for example issues of speech are clearly separate from the ownership and management of firearms,” Ley said in a statement.
“As is so often the case with this prime minister, he is squarely focused on what he perceives to be his political interests, not the national interest. This is a political decision, aimed at fostering division, not creating unity.”
On Thursday, the prime minister announced a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, backflipping on his previous opposition to a federal inquiry after widespread community and political pressure.
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