Anthony Albanese abandons plan to criminalise hate speech after Greens withdraw support

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it is clear his proposed racial vilification laws will not have the support of the Federal Parliament and has abandoned plans to criminalise hate speech.

Just a short time after the Greens declared on Saturday that it would support new gun laws but would not support the Government’s hate speech proposals, Mr Albanese held a press conference to announce Parliament would not debate one omnibus bill tackling anti-Semitism.

Instead, there would be two separate bills — one on stricter gun controls and the other on hate crimes and migration.

Racial vilification provisions would be removed.

“We will not be proceeding with the racial vilification provisions because it’s clear that that will not have support,” he said.

Parliamentarians have been called back to debate the bills on Tuesday.

“The racial vilification laws do not have the support of the Senate,” Mr Albanese said.

“That is what the Greens Party and the Liberal Party have made clear.

“So, we deal with the Parliament that we have.”

The omnibus bill included the creation of a new Federal offence that would make it illegal to publicly promote or incite racial hatred.

But opponents to the bill said the changes impacted on free speech.

“The Greens are willing to work with the government to pass gun laws, but the rest of the omnibus bill needs a huge amount of work,” Greens leader Larissa Waters said on Saturday.

The Jewish Community of WA issued a statement on Saturday saying it agreed with separating the bills.

“We agree with separating the parts of the bill dealing with firearms regulation into separate legislation,” it read.

“We also welcome the proposed immigration reforms and banning of hate groups and symbols.

But the Jewish community was disappointed that racial vilification provisions had been removed.

“We are dismayed to learn of the intention not to proceed with racial vilification provisions,” the statement read.

Proposed new gun laws will also include a national gun buy back scheme following the Bondi terror attack.

A spokesman for Liberal leader Sussan Ley described Mr Albanese’s change of tack as the Prime Minister having to face reality.

“He has decided to split what he told Australians was an un-splittable bill, including when directly asked by the Opposition Leader face-to-face, and he has made wholesale changes without hearing back from the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security, a process he said was critical for scrutinising the bill,” the spokesman said.

“Not only has his timeline curtailed community voices from being heard, but now he ignores the inquiry altogether including the over 7000 submissions that organisations and individuals rushed to submit to meet his arbitrary deadline.

“Anthony Albanese told Australians he took the time to get this right, today makes clear that was not an honest statement.”

Ms Ley’s spokesman said the Liberals would look at the details of Mr Albanese’s announcement but would not “be lectured about unity by a man who defied Australia on a Commonwealth Royal Commission and once again tried to defy Australia on his botched legislation”.