Brian Greig: WA out of step with the rest of Australia, needs inclusive anti-hate laws now more than ever

Imagine if leaflets were being dropped in Perth’s suburbs exposing specific residents as Jews, accusing them of drug dealing and sex trafficking. Imagine if this doxxing included photos of the accused and gave out their home address. Imagine if police said there was little they could do and it was a civil matter.

Imagine if five teenage boys in Perth were jailed for “planned and premediated” attacks on Jews, with one victim punched, tasered and threatened with drowning.

Imagine if an anti-Semitic group tore down Jewish festival posters and Israeli flags, called for Jewish books to be banned from the library, harassed librarians over the issue and called a public meeting to claim that Jews are a threat to children.

Imagine if neo-nazis protested out front of Jewish community events, hurling abuse and waving placards as families came and went from the venue with their children.

These things did not happen to Jewish West Australians. They are recent examples of hate speech and hate-motivated violence targeting LGBTIQA+ people in WA.

Despite repeated promises from the Cook Government, there are no incitement to hatred or anti-vilification laws in WA to protect LGBTIQA+ people or to allow for recourse. We are out of step with most other States, which is just one reason why moves by the Federal Government to strengthen hate speech laws must be broader than anti-Semitism alone.

Of course, it’s not just WA. The rising tide of hate speech and assaults on LGBTIQA+ people around Australia is alarming. The same neo-nazis who seek to eradicate Jews bring the same menace to people who are transgender. LGBTIQA+ community events in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart have been subject to abuse, vandalism, physical assault, harassment of same-sex couples and online threats.

A study of almost 7000 LGBTIQA+ Australians in 2021 by La Trobe University, found that 35 per cent had experienced verbal abuse, including hateful phone calls. Twenty-four per cent had experienced offensive gestures and being spat at. Twenty-two per cent had experienced written threats via emails and social media. Fifteen per cent had experienced threats of physical violence, physical attack or assault without a weapon. Eleven per cent had received written threats of abuse, and 4 per cent had deliberate damage to property or home vandalism.

One important lesson from the Bondi shootings is that the Government shouldn’t wait until attacks escalate before taking tough action against hate and those who promote it. The Federal Government’s legislative reaction to Bondi was because of a mass shooting. Do we need a similar massacre of LGBTIQA+ people before this legislation is broadened to include us?

We must combat anti-Semitism with every tool at our disposal, but passing laws against one kind of hate means other forms are not seen as legitimate and less deserving of a Commonwealth response. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry agrees and has criticised the current Bill’s exclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as “a significant failing”.

Jewish LGBTIQA+ groups agree and have called on the Prime Minister to prohibit hate speech across the board. Aleph spokesperson, Michael Barnett, said, “It makes no sense to us that half our identity is protected from hate and the other half isn’t.”

“We call on the Government to treat anti-LGBTIQA+ hate as seriously as anti-Semitic hate. There is no room for either in Australia. The Prime Minister has said ‘more could have been done’ to prevent the Bondi attack, so let’s now do more, not less,” he said.

Broadening national hate speech laws is hardly controversial, given that most States and Territories already include LGBTI people in local laws. The trouble is that Australian hate speech laws are a clumsy patchwork of State and Federal systems, with a variety of civil and criminal provisions. Each requires different standards of proof and dispenses different penalties depending on what state you are in.

Federal parliament must seize the opportunity and moral obligation to bring consistency, clarity and comprehensiveness to laws against hate speech and hate motivated violence.

Brian Greig is a spokesperson for Just-Equal Australia.