Haine symbols and terrorist offenses will be liable to compulsory prison conditions ranging from one to six years in Australia, after legislators adopted a series of amendments to hatred laws on Thursday.
The new laws were adopted Thursday in the midst of a wave of high -level anti -Semitic attacks which became a subject of heated debate in the country.
The changes have been described by officials as “the most difficult laws that Australia has never had hatred crimes”.
But criticisms say that the Labor Party leading collapses for the requests of the opposition and to the contrary to its own policy to oppose compulsory prison terms.
Under the modifications adopted on Thursday, displaying symbols of hatred or making a Nazi salute, is now liable to at least a year in prison.
Other penalties include a minimum of three years to finance terrorism and six years for having committed or planning terrorist acts.
Former Labor Senator Kim Carr criticized the party for what he said was a “clear violation of the National Labor Party”.
Work is opposed to the mandatory penalties on the grounds that these sanctions do not reduce crime, undermine the independence of the courts and are often discriminatory in practice.
But the opposition parties did not rush either to welcome new amendments, accusing the work of dragging their feet on the amendments.
“Parliament does not act today because of the decline of the Labor Party,” Liberal senator James Paterson told journalists in Canberra.
“The Prime Minister was trained in kicks and cries to finally introduce difficult legislation which will guarantee that there are real penalties for this behavior.”
The realization of Nazi salvation and the presentation of the symbols of Nazi hatred have been prohibited since January 2024 and transported up to a year in prison. Thursday changes make the prison sentence mandatory.
“It is not about politics,” said the Minister of Interior Affairs, Tony Burke, Wednesday evening while the amendments were presented in Parliament. “It is a question of knowing whether the Australian Parliament considers that it is acceptable to defend threatening or committing violence against another person because of whom they are, who they pray or who they love.”
There have been several attacks on Jewish targets in Australia in recent months.
Last week, Sydney authorities found a caravan containing explosives and an anti -Semitic note. The discovery occurred a week after a daycare center near a Jewish school and a synagogue in Sydney was burnt down and anti -Semitic graffiti were seen on its wall.
In December, a synagogue in Melbourne was lit with the faithful inside. No one was seriously injured in the incident, but he sent shock waves across the country.
