The JEC made a short submission to the statutory Review of Division 8A of Part 3A of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) (Inciting racial hatred).
The submission makes recommendations to improve the effectiveness of government measures to respond to recent increases in dangerous and harmful hate speech against vulnerable groups, particularly based on race, and to increase social cohesion.
Our submission notes the release of the Final Report of the Government-commissioned ‘Sackar Review‘ and recommends adopting Recommendation 2 of that Review, to ensure more groups vulnerable to hate speech are protected.
It also recommends removing the ‘religious text’ carve-out, which means the offence ‘does not apply to an act that consists only of directly quoting from or otherwise referencing a religious text for the purposes of religious teaching or discussion’.
