Hate speech laws face High Court challenge from neo-nazi leader after Parliament passes bill

New hate speech laws are already facing a possible legal challenge from a prominent neo-nazi after finally passing Parliament.

The legislation which passed late on Tuesday night aims to restrict the ability of hardline radical groups to incite violence against people based on their faith, while also making it easier to deport extremists and deny them entry to Australia.

It was drawn up after the December 14 anti-Semitic terror attack at Bondi Beach which left 15 people dead.

The Government’s bill went through with the support of most Liberals during a late-night Senate sitting, but the Nationals voted against it after raising concerns about its potential impacts on freedom of speech.

Liberal senator Alex Antic also crossed the floor to oppose the bill, while NT senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who sits in the Liberal party room, abstained.

Thomas Sewell, formerly head of the neo-nazi group the National Socialist Network, is raising money to challenge the laws.

“This will be a landmark case in protecting the rights of all Australians to politically communicate and organise for generations to come,” his fundraising page says.

“I have enquired with a number of highly respected law firms who wish to take the case to the High Court of Australia and challenge the existing and the proposed anti-free speech legislation.”

As of Tuesday evening, Sewell had raised almost $130,000 for his case.

The National Socialist Network, which has been involved in a number of increasingly public stunts calling for a white Australia, has promised to disband because of the laws.

Jewish groups have backed the hate crimes legislation as a welcome first step in cracking down on inflammatory language but believe it could go further.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the measures to shut down hate groups, which would likely include the National Socialist Network and radical Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, were a good move.

“These are very, very sinister organisations who for years have been promoting extremist ideology and anti-Semitism, and have been doing so in a way to very carefully skirt around the law,” he told AAP.

The Government was forced to strip out a number of tougher provisions, which would have created new criminal offences for racial hatred, to get the bill through parliament. Mr Leibler said Labor should revisit the issue.

“We are about to commence a royal commission into anti-Semitism. No doubt the royal commission will investigate some of these issues,” he said.

“I don’t think that we as a society can afford to abandon the possibility of strengthening hate speech laws.”