The Australian government has pledged to enforce tougher hate speech laws in response to the recent mass shooting at Bondi Beach, which killed fifteen people.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that the new laws will target people “who spread hate, division and [radicalization].” The laws would also penalize preachers who encourage violence, and create a new federal offense for “aggravated hate speech.” They would also add “hate” as a subject for consideration when people are charged for online threats.
Ten months ago, the Australian government strengthened its existing hate speech laws in an effort to combat anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim sentiment. Australian intelligence had previously investigated one of the shooters, Naveed Akram, for ties to an Islamic State terror cell in Sydney.
According to Albanese, “When people come to Australia, you leave old divisions and hatred at the door. When you come to Australia, you are here to support our society, which is diverse, but that diversity is our strength.” These kinds of platitudes have become common to the Left in politics and the corporate world alike, as they have long stopped defining Western society by any shared culture.
Albanese did not explain how he planned to prevent future radicalization of Muslim immigrants, or address it as a specific issue, though presumably the new speech laws will do the trick.
The Australian government’s reaction to the Bondi Beach shooting stands in sharp contrast to the Trump administration’s response to the recent Washington, DC shooting, where an Afghan national killed one National Guard soldier and wounded another. The administration has since expanded travel restrictions to 20 additional countries, as well as the Palestinian Authority. Since the Islamic terrorist attacks in America during President Donald J. Trump’s first campaign, he has been consistent in calling for restrictions on Muslim immigration, and implementing them as President.
We have grown used to politicians extolling the virtues of diversity and multiculturalism. Ideally, the Bondi Beach shooting would cause the Australian government to realize that diversity is not always our strength, nor is it an issue they will be able to fix with speech codes.
