Up to 5 Years Jail for Threatening Harm Based on Who Someone Is; Up to 3 Years Jail for Inciting Hatred; Expanded Civil Protections Against Vilification
Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill 2024
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Council
Assent
Topics
civil liberties criminal justice discrimination freedom of speech hate speech human rights public safety
Introduced by: The Hon Anthony Carbines MP (ALP) — Leader of the House, Minister for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Major Events, Minister for Medical Research, Minister for Racing; The Hon Jaclyn Symes MLC (ALP) — Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for Environment, Minister for the State Electricity Commission
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 is repealed.
Civil protections against vilification are moved to the Equal Opportunity Act and expanded. These protections now cover people based on their race, religious belief or activity, disability (including HIV or AIDS status), gender identity, sex, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, or their association with someone who has these attributes.
Public conduct that is likely to incite hatred, serious contempt, revulsion, or severe ridicule against a person or group based on a protected attribute is banned. This includes conduct that a reasonable person with that attribute would consider hateful or ridiculing.
People who believe they have been vilified can bring a dispute to the Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission or apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). Representative bodies can also start this process on behalf of unnamed people if they have the people's consent.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) cannot grant exemptions from these vilification laws. VCAT can dismiss an application if it is made more than 12 months after the conduct happened.
It is a criminal offence to engage in conduct that is likely to incite hatred, serious contempt, revulsion, or severe ridicule against a person or group based on a protected attribute. This offence carries a maximum penalty of 3 years jail.
It is a criminal offence to threaten physical harm to a person or damage to property (such as schools or places of worship) based on a protected attribute. This offence carries a maximum penalty of 5 years jail.
Officers of a company can be held criminally liable if they allow or are knowingly involved in the company committing a serious vilification offence.
For serious vilification offences, it is irrelevant whether the accused was mistaken about a person's protected attribute or whether the target actually had that attribute.
A person charged with inciting hatred has a legal defence if they can prove the conduct was for a genuine political purpose.
People are exempt from civil vilification laws if they can show their conduct was done reasonably and in good faith for an artistic work, a genuine academic, religious, or scientific purpose, a public interest debate, or a fair report of a public event.
Victorian courts can now use alternative arrangements for witnesses in serious vilification cases, such as using screens to hide the accused or allowing the witness to testify via closed-circuit TV.
The law regarding bail is expanded to include the public display or performance of Nazi symbols or gestures, and bail can be refused for these offences.
Police must get consent from the Director of Public Prosecutions before prosecuting a child under 18 for serious vilification offences.