Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) welcomes the likely passing of the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024 and the bipartisan support for it, but believes existing legislation should be better enforced.

AIJAC Executive Director Colin Rubenstein AM said, “This bill is a welcome and necessary step to help address the ever-worsening explosion of antisemitism in Australia, but we also believe existing legislation needs to be deployed more effectively.”

Dr Rubenstein continued, “A key problem is not what is or is not in this bill, but a matter of political and law enforcement will. Over the past 15 months, Australian streets have witnessed copious examples of hate crimes, glorification of terrorism and support for terrorist organisations. Yet so many of these acts have been ignored or downplayed by both law enforcement, as well as some ministers. New amendments that close gaps in legislation are important, but existing laws also need to be enforced methodically and forcefully.”

Dr Rubenstein added, “An important further legislative measure we would call for is to amend the Criminal Code to allow for criminal rather than merely civil remedies for severe examples of racial vilification. This is what the current bill was initially conceived to address, and it is disappointing that it does not do so. If a member of the public is racially vilified, they should not have to pay for lawyers and an expensive legal process to address this.”