This week, the NSW government changed the hate speech
laws and those around threats of violence. Following their
growing concerns over the rising number of protests recently, the
government enacted the new bill. It makes it easier to prosecute
any offender after police charge them with public threatening or
insighting violence against an individual or group based on race,
religion, or other attributes.
Issues with previous hate speech laws
Over the last few years, government officials have grown
concerned about the length of time it takes to refer these crimes
to the Director of Public Prosecutions. By the
time they can prosecute a criminal of this type, months go by.
Hence, the government wants to tighten the laws around hate speech
and threats to incite violence. They said the criminal provisions
brought in five years ago are not resulting in successful
prosecutions.
