<\/p>\n
There is growing backlash to Queensland\u2019s antisemitism laws on all sides of politics, with rightwing thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) the latest group to raise free speech concerns about the \u201cvague\u201d bill.<\/p>\n
Margaret Chambers, a research fellow at the IPA, said the bill would confer extraordinary power on a single minister to \u201cengage in censorship and the criminalising of opinions and debate\u201d on the basis of a subjective standard, without oversight by the courts.<\/p>\n
The constitutional scholar Anne Twomey said the laws were being \u201cunduly rushed\u201d<\/a>, with a seven-day public comment period expiring on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/sub><\/a><\/p>\n Under the proposed laws, the state\u2019s attorney-general would have the power to ban a particular expression if she was satisfied that the expression was \u201cregularly used to incite discrimination, hostility or violence\u201d towards a \u201crelevant group\u201d, defined by \u201crace, religion, sexuality, sex characteristics or gender identity\u201d.<\/p>\n The attorney general\u2019s proscribing power could be overturned by a vote in parliament, but Queensland\u2019s unicameral parliament is almost always controlled by the government of the day.<\/p>\n \u201cThese proposed laws are so vague and broad that even phrases used by the no campaign<\/a> against the voice to parliament, which over two-thirds of Queenslanders supported, could have been outlawed,\u201d Chambers said.<\/p>\n The government has announced its intention to proscribe two phrases<\/a>: \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d and \u201cglobalise the intifada\u201d.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s premier, David Crisafulli, said on Sunday that the government would not seek to ban additional phrases, such as racist and antisemitic slurs.<\/p>\n Twomey said the state\u2019s list of relevant groups was much broader than the recent commonwealth legislation, which only applied to \u201crace, colour, or national or ethnic origin\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cA banned expression could be one that is regarded as inciting hostility towards people who have transitioned, for example,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Crisafulli said the opposite was true: \u201cIt was the original federal bill that was so broad, and that\u2019s the reason why the parliament went into meltdown.\u201d<\/p>\n The legislation would make public recitation, public distribution, publication or public display<\/a> of a proscribed phrase an offence punishable by two years in prison if doing so \u201ccould reasonably be expected to make a member of the public feel menaced, harassed or offended, and the defendant does not have a reasonable excuse\u201d.<\/p>\n The government spent more than a month writing the legislation, which was tabled on Tuesday. It also deals with gun reforms developed at the national cabinet after last year\u2019s Bondi beach terror attack<\/a>.<\/p>\n The public has been given seven days to submit on the legislation.<\/p>\n Asked whether the process was rushed, Crisafulli said the timeframe \u201cstrikes the right balance\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI was being criticised before Christmas, before New Year, for not doing it quickly enough,\u201d he said. \u201cWe genuinely took the time to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n A 17-day inquiry by the parliamentary justice, integrity and community safety committee will end on 27 February.<\/p>\n Chambers called on the state\u2019s conservative government to \u201cabandon \u2026 what is in many ways a carbon copy of\u201d the federal government\u2019s hate laws, which passed with the support of the opposition<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n \u201cThe standard is so low that Queenslanders could face two years in prison for uttering a banned phrase that \u2018incites hostility\u2019 even when there is no victim and no proven harm,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Asked whether an offended person needed to attend a protest to trigger the law, the police minister, Dan Purdie, said: \u201cWe don\u2019t want people at a protest or elsewhere chanting those sort of chants, which do incite hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n Purdie said the government supported the right to protest peacefully \u2013 which is legislated in Queensland<\/a> \u2013 \u201cbut what we are doing is stamping out hate, people calling for genocide of a particular religion or faith\u201d.<\/p>\n