Sussan Ley blasts ‘unsalvageable’ hate laws as PM accuses Coalition of ‘playing politics’ after Bondi terror

Sussan Ley has blasted Labor’s hate speech laws as “unsalvageable”, citing their failure to mention the term ‘radical Islam’ as among its shortcomings, with the Coalition looking set to reject the laws when they are debated in Parliament next week.

In return, during duelling morning media appearances, Anthony Albanese accused the Opposition Leader and the Coalition of “playing politics” in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre saying they were “day-after-day” making headlines while he claimed to have taken an “orderly approach” away from the cameras.

The Prime Minister’s comments came amid heavy criticism from Coalition MPs of Labor’s legislative response to the Bondi terror attack and a chorus of groups claiming Labor is rushing complex laws.

Mr Albanese has recalled parliament for a two-day sitting next week to introduce the extensive package of new laws which would upgrade hate speech laws, tighten gun regulations and lock in a national gun buy-back scheme.

But politicians, Jewish and other religious groups, and prominent experts have warned that having just days to get across the 140-page legislation, plus a more than 300-page explanatory memorandum could lead to unintended consequences.

The legislation does not address the real issues that gave rise to the Bondi attack. It doesn’t address Islamic extremism.

Former Home Affairs boss Mike Pezzullo told a three-day hearing into the draft bill that it was “the most consequential change” to counter-terrorism measures in Australia since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Labor’s omnibus bill and snap recalling of Parliament comes after Opposition leader Sussan Ley had suggested in several media interviews in the wake of the terror attack that politicians should urgently get back to Canberra.

Mr Albanese, who at the time had faced mounting criticism for acting too slowly and being reluctant to call a Royal Commission, dug up and referenced his rival’s previous commentary during a fiery attack on ABC Sydney on Thursday.

“You can’t have it both ways. People who were watching the events since December 14 would have seen politics being played by the Coalition. They’re still playing politics,” the PM said.

“I just find it astonishing that people who were arguing this was ‘absolutely urgent’ on the front page of papers day after day after day, and now they’re saying, oh no, well, actually, it’s not that urgent.

“To use their words, now they’re saying that this is somehow ‘rushed’, even though my government has moved in a considered orderly way.

“I’m just stunned that they are saying they will vote against legislation - a number of their members - without even looking at it.”

He highlighted the Coalition’s divided response to the proposed legislation, with Ms Ley arguing the laws don’t go far enough, while several Liberal colleagues contend they go too far and unduly restrict freedom of speech.

Several Liberal backbenchers have publicly raised concerns with some of the proposed changes to hate speech laws, with WA MP Andrew Hastie already ruling out supporting the bill and claiming Parliament should wait until the Royal Commission reports back in December.

Mr Albanese went on to quote from a media release from Ms Ley on December 18 and National MPs interviews on ABC Radio on December 17 which called for parliament to be convened immediately.

The PM claimed at the same time that what his government was “prioritising, of course, was the security issues”.

“Was this a one off? Were these people part of a cell? What was the motivation? Just trying to ensure that people were safe,’ the PM said.

“I was in Bondi again yesterday with the community engaging constructively about the National Day of Mourning… engaging as well about other issues that the community are dealing with. I haven’t taken cameras with me on those occasions.”

Just days later, on December 21, Mr Albanese was booed and heckled by community members at a Bondi memorial, with one yelling he had “blood on your hands” over the murder of 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl.

Speaking in Melbourne on Thursday, Ms Ley hit back at the criticisms, accusing Labor of pulling together “clumsy” “unsalvageable” and “half-baked” legislation and giving the Parliament inadequate time to scrutinise them.

“The legislation does not address the real issues that gave rise to the Bondi attack. It doesn’t address Islamic extremism.

“There’s more than 500 pages of legislation, and the term radical Islam is not mentioned once. If the Prime Minister can’t name the problem, he can’t tackle it.

“To date, the legislation has not stood the basic scrutiny as part of the parliamentary inquiry that is ongoing and has taken place over the last couple of days.

“It’s clear, the legislation protects hate preachers by making exemptions for things written in religious texts but fails to define what those religious texts may be.

“The Attorney General’s department couldn’t tell us if phrases like ‘globalise the Intifada’ or ‘from the river to the sea’ would be captured by this law.

“We are being asked to consider sweeping powers. Yet the government has not been able to explain how key provisions would operate in practice and what conduct would actually be captured.

“What the Bill does is clumsily try to address hate speech and control firearms.”

Mr Albanese claimed he had meet regularly with Ms Ley, and the Coalition received a full briefing on Monday.

He also stressed that the government was open to amendments but claimed Ms Ley hadn’t provided any.

Ms Ley also accused the PM of a lack of leadership in the days after the attack and scrambling for a “political fix” when he should have shown “courage”.

“We have had a Prime Minister who froze for 25 days unable to find a political fix for what he saw as a political problem,” Ms Ley said.

“When the nation demanded leadership and moral courage and moral clarity, we had 25 days of confusion.”

She also highlighted that the State Labor leader Chris Minns had acted to recall State parliament before Christmas.

“Let’s remember why we are where we are. We had the worst ever terror attack on Australian soil,” she said.

“The Parliament should have been reconvened then before Christmas to actually demonstrate leadership, compassion and the determination that I have spoken of every day since to tackle radical Islamic extremism and eradicate anti-Semitism.”

But Mr Albanese said the weeks after the attack were needed for the laws to be carefully drafted and admitted it was a “complex area of law”.

“Yes, I’ve made it very clear this is a complex area of law. That’s why we didn’t bring Parliament back on Christmas Eve and pass the laws without going through detailed work by the Attorney General’s department and by the Department of Home Affairs and consulting community groups,” the PM told ABC radio.