Albanese announces plan to tackle 'hate preachers' after terror attack

Australia’s hate speech laws will be expanded to directly target “hate preachers” under a new push to stamp out antisemitism, as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, conceded more could have been done to combat anti-Jewish sentiment ahead of the Bondi beach massacre.

- Dan Jervis-Bardy

The home affairs minister will also be granted powers to cancel and reject visas of people who spread “hate and division” under a five-point plan announced yesterday, after days of intensifying pressure on Albanese to do more to address antisemitism and radicalisation after Sunday’s terrorist attack on a Hanukah celebration.

It came as mourners gathered in Sydney for the funeral of 10-year-old Matilda - the youngest of the 15 victims.

"Look, of course more could have always been done. Governments aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect,” Albanese said.

Responding to Albanese’s admission, the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said “more should have been done” to combat antisemitism in Australia in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, as she unveiled her own plan.

The coalition’s plan includes terminating or blocking funding to arts and research projects that support “antisemitic activities”, reviving the idea of stripping citizenship from dual citizens who engage in terrorist activities, and pausing the issuing of visas to any person from a “terrorist enclave” - including Gaza.

Ley demanded Albanese recall parliament next week to pass laws before Christmas.