ECAJ submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee inquiry into the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024.

The ECAJ has long been advoc­at­ing for stronger laws to hold per­pet­rat­ors of hate speech account­able. While the ECAJ welcomes attemps to reform hate crimes law, our assess­ment is that this is a modest step in the right direction and does not go far enough to effect­ively respond to some of the more scan­dal­ous forms of hate speech we see today.

We are advoc­at­ing for further changes to the law to focus on:

• Promoting, advoc­at­ing or glor­i­fy­ing, rather than inciting, the use of force or violence against another person, or a group.
• A new Federal offence of serious vili­fic­a­tion.

Download full submission

• ECAJ sub­mis­sion on Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024 (PDF: 853KB)
• ECAJ responses to questions on notice (PDF: 795KB)

Watch ECAJ hearing before inquiry