Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024

Mr BANDT (Melbourne—Leader of the Australian Greens) (19:50): As I said during my second reading contribution, the Greens support this bill. The Greens made it clear to the government over a number of days, and again this evening in the chamber, that we support the bill and we believe the bill essentially could be passed unamended. The bill struck the right balance without the need for further amendments.

We do need to take action against hate crimes to protect a broad range of groups, and the provisions in the bill have been through an extensive Senate inquiry process to ensure the balance was right. Whenever one is amending a section of criminal law, potentially amending criminal law, you need to make sure you get the balance right—that is, you protect people but you also protect the rule of law.

What is happening this evening though is something very different from the thorough and considered process that the bill, up to this point, had been through—a process of review, a process of consideration, a process of getting to the point where it enjoyed enough support to get through the parliament. The bill could have got through the parliament unamended. Now amendments have been circulated that we've had less than five minutes to look at.

The opposition had previously circulated an amendment that, on our reading of it, we were disposed to support because it was about protecting places of worship. This new amendment from the opposition seems materially different to what had been previously proposed. It involves prison sentences and the chamber is given five minutes to consider it.

In the time we've had available we just don't know if this is an amendment that's worth supporting or not. It does appear, from what the government has said, that a deal has been reached between the government and the opposition to support a number of last-minute amendments to this bill that, I repeat, had enough support to get through parliament already because it was a good bill that struck the right balance.

Five minutes notice and the merest of speeches that don't go beyond a couple of minutes to speak to a new amendment that people have not seen is not the way this parliament should be legislating about such a serious matter, especially when, I repeat, the bill was in a position to pass without amendments. Accordingly, I will be asking that this question be recorded as being unresolved.

Given the amount of notice we've had we're just not in a position at the moment to determine whether or not these are amendments that are worth supporting.