Religious Vilification Laws

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:41): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General about religious vilification law.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: As reported by SBS News on 12 November, the New South Wales government has recently introduced a new law and added amendments to its legislation to make it illegal by a public act to incite hatred or serious contempt or severely ridicule a person or group because of their religious belief, affiliation or activity, with vilification defined as abusively disparaging speech or writing.

Under the new law, if a complaint is substantiated by a tribunal at Anti-Discrimination New South Wales, the tribunal may order an apology or damages of up to $100,000. This amendment comes in the wake of increased instances of religious vilification around the world and in Australia towards Jewish and Muslim groups since the conflict started in the Israel-Gaza region. Instances of religious vilification and discrimination have also increased in South Australia, with recent reports of hostilities being exchanged between groups of pro-Israel or pro-Palestine protesters in Rundle Mall and arson attacks against the Al-Khalil mosque and Marion mosque. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Can the Attorney-General confirm whether the state government is currently considering any reforms of religious vilification law in South Australia?

2. Is the Attorney-General looking to strengthen existing anti-discrimination laws here in South Australia by implementing religious vilification laws similar to those of New South Wales?

3. What measures would the Labor government put in place to ensure that acts of religious vilification will not damage the social cohesion of our multicultural community in South Australia?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:43): I thank the honourable member for her question and her interest in this area. In relation to how the honourable member ended the question and the cohesive multicultural society in South Australia, there are laws in place and have been since the mid-1990s in South Australia in terms of racial vilification to incite hatred towards a person or group of people based on their race.

In terms of the earlier part of the question on religious vilification, it's something that we are having a look at already in South Australia. We are happy to have a look at what other jurisdictions are doing, but we have had representations in government in relation to its application to our equal opportunity laws and we are continuing to review that work.