Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Michaelia Cash has said she is happy to support the government’s hate crimes bill to be voted on later tonight, while offering an attack on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for an expanded version of the laws that was wound back.
“I’m very happy to support laws that are going to give the relevant minister in this country the ability to actually chuck out violent Islamic extremists, because that’s actually what the laws that we are looking at tonight will do,” Cash told the Senate during a debate.
Cash in the senate on Monday.Getty Images
“But before I address those laws, let’s talk about the journey to actually get here, because Australians should never forget what Mr Albanese tried to do after Australia’s largest terrorist attack. Let’s be clear, he tried to push through the biggest expansion of criminal speech laws this country has ever seen,” Cash said.
“What’s worse is he tried to do it in less than one week before Australians had had time to properly read it, to understand it, or speak up. But guess what? Australians did speak up, and the Coalition, the Liberal Party and the National Party stood firmly with them,” she said.
The government had initially proposed far-ranging laws that included a new anti-vilification offence, but Labor backed down after it was clear they would not win support in the Senate. The laws had a carve-out that meant they didn’t apply to conduct that directly quoted or referenced a religious text. Cash said this was a move from the government “so as not to offend the violent Islamic extremists”.