Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has advised the Australian National Imams Council, the leading body representing Muslim religious leaders, that new hate laws will not prevent criticism of foreign countries or political ideologies despite concerns the laws could silence debate.
In a letter seen exclusively by this masthead and co-signed by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Rowland told ANIC president Imam Shadi Alsuleiman that the legislation would not “prevent legitimate, non-violent criticism of the actions of a foreign country or of particular political ideologies”.
The laws, introduced by the Albanese government last week in response to the Bondi terror attack, allow the government to ban hate groups, tighten visa rules and increase penalties for existing hate crime offences.
The hate groups section of the law gives the home affairs minister the power to ban groups that publicly incite hatred that causes a reasonable person who is a target “to be intimidated, to fear harassment or violence, or to fear for their safety”.
“Crucially, those existing offences apply only where a person advocates or threatens force or violence against a group, members of a group, or their property or places of worship,” she wrote, adding that the measures do not “introduce restrictions on the ability of faith communities to practice and teach their religious and cultural beliefs”.
Rowland was responding to a scathing letter sent by Alsuleiman last Thursday, in which he criticised the new laws and their impact on political expression and protest in Australia. The imams’ specific concern was whether the new measures would criminalise criticisms of Israel or Zionism.
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