The federal government is under renewed pressure to outlaw vilification to stop hate “at its source”, after parliament united to condemn the recent spate of antisemitic attacks.
The teal independent Allegra Spender has launched an 11th-hour bid to widen Labor’s hate crimes legislation after a wave of attacks targeting Jewish communities, including in her Sydney electorate of Wentworth.
The laws before parliament create a new offence for threatening to use force or violence against people based on their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and nationality, national or ethnic origin or political opinion.
In a move backed by Jewish leaders and equality advocates, Spender wants the legislation expanded to outlaw serious vilification, such as a preacher calling for a “final solution” in relation to Jewish people.
Spender argued the laws, as drafted, left a “gaping hole” that was allowing groups and individuals to glorify hatred with impunity.
The government originally planned to include anti-vilification provisions before it was dropped amid a reported disagreement with faith groups about the balance between free speech and religious protections.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, told colleagues last May Labor’s original proposal was a “trap” and “wedge” for the Coalition.
Guardian Australia understands that while the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has not ruled out adopting Spender’s amendment, the government is wary of pursuing changes that could inflame tensions with religious groups.
The opposition is yet to form a position but was understood to have several concerns, including the potential for forms of political opinion to be captured.
At a press conference in parliament on Tuesday, Spender acknowledged the freedom of speech concerns but said guardrails were needed to prevent the “whipping up of animosity and hatred in our society”.
“Words are the start of many things that we don’t want as a country,” she said.
“And so when we consider how to stop antisemitism, but frankly, how to stop different types of hatred in our community, we need to consider how words are being used to drive some of this.”
The chief executive of advocacy group Equality Australia, Anna Brown, and representatives from the Australian Union of Jewish Students appeared alongside Spender to back the amendments.
“The laws currently before the parliament are a welcome step, but they will only prevent hate if they stop it at its source, and the member for Wentworth’s bill does that by prohibiting serious vilification,” Brown said.
Debate on the legislation resumed briefly in the lower house on Tuesday afternoon as the government pushes to pass it this fortnight, potentially the final sittings before the federal election.
The Coalition is open to supporting the bill but wants Labor to explicitly outlaw threats and attacks against places of worship, such as synagogues.
The government believes the amendment is unnecessary because the laws are designed to capture threats of violence against all places, which naturally includes places of worship.
Spender’s renewed push for anti-vilification laws came as parliament united in support of her motion condemning the “appalling and unacceptable rise in antisemitism across Australia”, including attacks on synagogues, schools, homes and childcare centres.
After the opposition criticised him for not moving the motion himself, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told parliament that antisemitism had “no place in Australia”.
“Hatred feeds on ignorance, and ignorance strides in darkness. Since we fight these crimes of bigotry in the present, we are building for a better future through the light of education,” he said.
Dutton said antisemitism was now a “national crisis”.
“People who were born here, who know little of Israel and little of that life, they’re talking about leaving our country and going to Israel because they feel safer there,” he said.
“This is a time of national crisis, and it has been brewing away and been in the making for a long period of time.”
