Opposition concerned laws in response to Bondi attack are being rushed

ABC NEWS (Australia)

With Parliament reconvening next week to debate new legislation in response to the Bondi terror attack, the Opposition is expressing concern the laws are being rushed. The government is looking to make changes to hate speech laws and gun provisions, with feedback on the bill due in two days.

Transcript

00:00There's a couple of different concerns and they're coming from both within politics

00:06and outside of.

00:08The parliament is being recalled early to pass through these hate speech laws and some

00:12gun control laws.

00:14It's been recalled early largely because of public pressure but also following a large

00:19amount of pressure from the coalition, namely Susan Lee who demanded the parliament be recalled

00:25before Christmas.

00:27Now there is criticism that the government is rushing through these laws too quickly

00:32and that there hasn't been enough time to consult and those calls are coming from within the

00:36coalition itself as well.

00:39National Senate leader Bridget McKenzie this morning said the opposition didn't have enough

00:43time to look through the proposed legislation.

00:47She accused the Prime Minister of playing politics with the bill and said that officials in government

00:52departments weren't able to give answers about what the potential impacts of these law

00:56changes would be.

00:58More broadly, the Nationals are critical of the proposed changes to gun reforms.

01:06They say that responsible, law-abiding gun holders are being punished for the actions of a couple

01:13of extremist terrorists.

01:16Matt Canavan and Andrew Hastie, also opposition members, have expressed concerns that the hate

01:22speech laws are going too far and that they may encroach on people's freedom of speech and

01:28religion.

01:28Multiple Liberal sources have told the ABC that it's looking like there will be a bit of a

01:34divide in the party room over where to land on these proposed laws.

01:38There's an uneasiness about some of the thresholds in criminalising the promotion of racial vilification.

01:48There's divided opinions on what to do there.

01:50Outside of politics, however, there's also been critiques of this bill.

01:54The Australian Lawyers Alliance have added to the calls that there haven't been enough

01:58time to consult.

01:59They say feedback on the bill due in two days isn't enough time to look into critical details

02:04and could lead to unwanted consequences.

02:07While the Australian Federation of Islamic Council has also joined in the calls, they're worried

02:15that there's not enough protections for religious groups within the laws.

02:19There's protections for race and ethnicity, but not religion.

02:22And they say that Muslims are being increasingly the victims of Islamophobia and there's not

02:29enough there.

02:30So it puts the government in a difficult position.

02:32They were pushed into sort of calling back Parliament early.

02:37Now they're being criticised for rushing the draft bill through, but this is all going

02:41to be up for debate next week.

02:43Isabella, thank you.

02:44Thanks.

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