Australia to Crack Down on Hate Speech After Bondi Beach Attack

New legislation will be drafted to target those who promote violence and to increase penalties for hate speech, the prime minister said Thursday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia announced on Thursday new measures to combat antisemitism, including legislation that would “crack down on those who spread hate, division and radicalization.”

The measures come days after two gunmen opened fire at a beachside Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, killing 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl. The authorities said the men appeared to have been motivated by Islamic State-inspired antisemitism.

Mr. Albanese said at a news conference that his government would draft legislation to combat hate speech and those who spread hate, including measures to target preachers who promote violence and to list organizations whose leaders promote violence or racial hatred. It also would increase penalties for hate speech.

The home affairs minister will be also given new powers to cancel or reject visas of people who are deemed likely to spread hate and division in Australia, he said.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, Australia has seen an increase in antisemitism and attacks on its Jewish community, Mr. Albanese said. “It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge. Much more,” he said.

Australia’s current hate crime laws prohibit advocating or threatening violence against people based on characteristics including race, sex and religion. In February, in response to concerns about growing antisemitism, the laws were strengthened and new offenses were added, including threatening to damage places of worship. Penalties were also increased for displaying Nazi and terrorist organization symbols.

It is not clear what behaviors and speech will be captured under the new legislation, and the government did not provide examples. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said at the news conference that the new legislation would capture two kinds of instances where people or organizations have “gone right to the limits of the law but have managed to stay on the legal side of it.”

For individuals who used language that was “clearly dehumanizing, unacceptable, having no place in Australia, but have not quite crossed the threshold to violence,” the new legislation would lower that threshold, Mr. Burke said. The same standard would apply to organizations that exhibited divisive behavior and philosophy, he added.

Mr. Albanese has faced growing scrutiny over whether his government had done enough in response to warnings that dangerous antisemitism was rising across the country, and over his personal leadership in the days following the attack.

Sussan Ley, leader of the opposition, said that his proposal on Thursday was “something that he should have announced two years ago.”

Mr. Albanese has defended his record, noting that his government appointed Australia’s first antisemitism envoy and passed legislation to criminalize hate speech, and that he has condemned the apparent antisemitic motivations behind the attack.

But on Thursday he conceded: “Governments aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect.”

The government’s announcement came as more funerals for the victims of the attack were held on Thursday, including for 10-year-old Matilda and for Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who grandfathered 11 children.

Mr. Albanese was repeatedly asked whether he had sought to attend the funerals. He has not been seen at them, although other leaders, including Ms. Ley, Premier Chris Minns of New South Wales and former Prime Minister Scott Morrison have attended.

Mr. Albanese also said that his government would adopt a series of recommendations made in July by Jillian Segal, Australia’s special envoy on antisemitism.

At the time Ms. Segal handed down her recommendations, the government said it would “carefully consider” them, but did not commit to adopting all of them. After the attack, some members of the Jewish community cited this inaction as part of their frustration with Mr. Albanese and his government.

The recommendations included monitoring the content published by the news media, allowing government to withhold funding from universities that “facilitate, enable or fail to act against antisemitism,” and adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism — a definition that some see as contentious.

On Thursday, the elevated footbridge from which the two gunmen opened fire at Bondi Beach reopened to the public.

That afternoon, handfuls of people walked slowly over it, some gazing for a long time out at the grassy park below, where the Hanukkah celebration had been cut abruptly short on Sunday. On one side of the footbridge, an artist had drawn in chalk a menorah, an Australian flag and a bee to represent the youngest victim, whom family and friends called “Matilda Bee.”

Charles Fawthrop, 64, who came from a nearby suburb, stood and looked out from the bridge for a long moment. “I always told my children we were lucky to grow up in this country,” he said. “Now — not so lucky.”

“It’s very strange,” he added. “Everything is different.”

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