Labor’s Bondi bills facing opposition from Coalition
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke hit out at the Coalition for its reservations over Labor’s fast-tracked hate speech and firearms legislation, amid growing signs the Opposition will vote against the changes.
The omnibus Bill proposed by Labor will reform hate speech, immigration, and firearms laws in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.
However, the Coalition has criticised the Bill for a number of reasons, with Opposition Leader Sussan Ley holding a meeting with senior party leadership on Wednesday evening to voice her concerns, which related to the ability of the reforms to eradicate anti-Semitism and crackdown on radical Islamic extremism.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.It is a sign the Coalition may move to vote against the Bill when parliament sits on Monday.
Other Liberal MPs have claimed the Bill is being rushed through parliament, despite earlier having lobbied for reforms to be drafted before Christmas.
The Nationals also oppose the firearms reforms proposed in the omnibus Bill.
On Thursday, Mr Burke said he hoped “people’s better senses will come through”, despite acknowledging calls to change the legislation came from a sense of goodwill.
“But I’ve got to say, if the Opposition, after all of this, opposed the exact sorts of legislation they’ve been calling for, then the hypocrisy of what they’ve been calling for the last four weeks is just really disappointing,” he told Sunrise.
Mr Burke claimed the spectrum of dissatisfaction expressed by the opposition made their exact argument against the legislation unclear.
“I might say the Opposition, when they say, ‘Oh, can’t you split them and put it in different bills’, they’re also saying, if we did, they’re opposed to both anyway,” he said.
“So I’m not sure where the arguments from the opposition actually come from,” he told Sunrise.
“At the moment, they’ve spent four weeks basically demanding the parliament be recalled and that we legislate straight away.
“And (then) we do the work, we put the legislation together, we recall parliament.
“And now they say: ‘Oh no, it’s too much of a rush. Let’s not do it.’”
Without Coalition support, passing the Bill would require the government to negotiate with the Greens, who hold the balance of power in the Senate.
Originally published as Labor’s Bondi bills facing opposition from Coalition
