When asked again about the carve out, specifically the government’s decision to allow potential hate speech as long as it quoted from a religious text, Albanese once more referred the biblical text.
“I encourage you to read the Old Testament and see what’s there, and see if you outlaw that what would occur. So we need to be careful. We consulted with faith groups, not just with the Jewish community, we want to make sure there’s the broadest possible support for this legislation,” Albanese said.
Under the proposed wording, new offences over the incitement of hatred and the dissemination of ideas of superiority or hatred of individuals or groups because of their “race, colour or national or ethnic origin” do not apply to conduct “that consists only of directly quoting from, or otherwise referencing, a religious text for the purpose of religious teaching or discussion”.
Certain translations of religious texts may otherwise have been deemed hate speech, including a controversial section of the Koran which has sometimes been translated to label Jews and Christians as “the worst of all beings”.
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New anti-vilification provisions will deliberately target Islamic preachers who spread hate about Jews and other minorities.
Some interpretations of the Old Testament have been used to discriminate against people of colour through an interpretation of wording in Genesis about Canaanites, whose genetic descendants include Palestinian, Syrian and Jordanian communities.
More prominently, the book Leviticus has been used to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community and those with disability, though neither attributes are protected under the government’s new racial vilification laws.
Muslim groups said they had not been consulted on the laws. Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Rateb Jneid said he was concerned that the new serious offence only criminalises the promotion of hatred applied to race rather than religion.
“In a climate where Islamophobia is rising rapidly, as evidenced as recently as yesterday by the violent attack on an imam and his wife in Victoria, it is simply not tenable for laws designed to combat hate to exclude religion,” he said.
