Jewish leaders furious with government

Joshua Levi

JEWISH communal leaders are furious with the NSW government for dropping plans to change section 20D of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act.

“There is actually no group which opposes this change, so we cannot work out what the government is afraid of,” NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff said. “The only people in NSW who don’t want to make the promotion and advocacy of violence on the basis of race illegal appear to be in government.

“The government can talk about social cohesion, but when the time came for real and meaningful action, it has fallen short.”
The community has been lobbying Parliament for more than five years to change the Act, which covers serious acts of racial vilification.

Section 20D of the Act states that, “A person shall not, by a public act, incite hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of, a person or group of persons on the ground of the race of the person or members of the group by means which include: threatening physical harm towards, or towards any property of, the person or group of persons, or inciting others to threaten physical harm towards, or towards any property of, the person or group of persons.”

In 2013, a bipartisan parliamentary committee recommended changes to the Act, including adding that recklessly inciting violence would be against the law, but no changes were made.

The problem with the Act was highlighted in 2015 when a video of Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Ismail al-Wahwah emerged of him describing Jews as the “hidden evil” and calling for a “jihad against the Jews”.

But al-Wahwah could not be charged, which created fury across the community.

Gabrielle Upton, who was NSW attorney-general at the time, admitted that the Anti-Discrimination Act “is not working as intended” and said that it “must be changed”.

As frustration grew within the community, Keep NSW Safe, which includes represntatives from 30 faith groups across Australia, was established, pushing for change.

That group, which includes the Federation of Indian Association of NSW, Australian Hellenic Council NSW, Australian National Imams Council, Hindu Council of Australia, Australian Egyptian Council Forum, Sikh Youth Australia, Muslim Women’s Association, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and more than 20 other organisations, has been lobbying government for more than 14 months.

But they have failed, and were left disappointed this week, when it was revealed there would be no changes to the Act.

“There are no present plans to amend section 20D of the Anti-Discrimination Act,” NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said this week.

“Apart from section 20D and its analogues, existing general criminal law provisions, including in the Crimes Act, are capable of covering conduct of the kind in question.”

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and Keep NSW Safe have vowed to continue fighting to change the Act.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Walt Secord said he shared the Jewish community’s disappointment and accused the Berejiklian Government of “absolute betrayal” – in relation to its decision to secretly drop plans to reform the state’s racial vilification laws.

“Let’s face facts: there has not been a single prosecution in 30 years and the spirit of the laws have not been followed. Reform and change is desperately needed,” Secord said.

He said there have been some of the most disgusting attacks and examples of incitement to racial hatred and violence, especially against the Jewish community, and nothing has happened to the culprits.

“Previous attorney-general Gabrielle Upton admitted the laws were not working and promised the Jewish community and other community groups that her government would strengthen and streamline Section 20D.

“Ms Upton did nothing – despite a cross-party parliamentary committee led by her own government recommending changes in 2013.

“The Berejiklian Government … shelved the plans and pretended otherwise.”

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