Michael McCormack supports the new hate speech laws. Photo: Michael McCormack Facebook.
Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has supported controversial new laws to restrict “hate speech” and activity, despite a number of fellow National Party members opposing it or deciding not to vote at all.
The Albanese Labor Government’s hate speech bill gave it the power to ban certain “hate” groups and to impose tougher penalties on those convicted of inciting hatred against particular minorities. An amended version of this bill passed both houses of parliament this week.
“I voted in the parliament for the hate speech bill which gets rid of organisations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, which gets rid of radical Islamic jihadists who are anti-Australia, who are against everything that our nation stands for or should stand for, that gets rid of neo-Nazis; it’s the only legislation before the parliament that does that,” Mr McCormack said.
“I didn’t want to let the perfect get in the way of the good. The legislation is not well written … but to get rid of those organisations that should be outlawed, that’s the only bill that does that.”
By contrast, Riverina One Nation spokesperson Paul Funnell called the new laws “disgusting” and accused Mr McCormack of flip-flopping because he’d previously expressed concerns about the bill.
“These draconian laws that have just been passed through our parliament are going to do nothing but to protect the politicians … from the average citizenry who want to speak up against hatred or hold our politicians to account,” he said.
Mr Funnell said he believed existing laws were sufficient to deal with radical groups that preached hatred, but governments had been “too cowardly” to use them.
“Under our Crimes Act, it is [already] a crime to incite, to intimidate or to threaten or to do any number of things.
“All the government had to do at both state and federal level was act on existing laws, but they’re cowards.”
He said government was content to use these laws to crack down on people who opposed COVID restrictions, but not on “radical Islamic extremists”, which he said they were too afraid to talk about.
Mr Funnell added that the passing of the bill showed the Coalition and Labor were essentially the same, and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party was the only hope of repealing the laws.
The minor party launched a Riverina branch last year and plans to run in every seat at the next election, as support surges in the polls.
Federal Parliament also passed stricter gun laws, which enables a buyback of firearms, imposes stricter background checks and limits the number of guns an individual can own. On this issue, Mr Funnell and Mr McCormack were united in their opposition.
“I voted against the gun reform bill. Why should law-abiding Australians have their rights taken away from them, [like] farmers who want to get rid of feral pets?” Mr McCormack said.
“They do not have murder in their minds, they do not have hatred in the hearts, they have licences, they store their weapons correctly and should not have their guns taken away from them.”
