Peter Dutton vows minimum mandatory sentencing for hate crimes as part of crackdown on anti-Semitism

The Coalition has vowed to introduce minimum jail terms for acts of anti-Semitism in its pre-election pitch as the enforcer of “zero tolerance” against crime and violent extremism.

The pledge to introduce mandatory minimum sentencing of six years in jail for all acts of terrorism under Commonwealth law comes amid an alarming escalation in anti-Semitic violence, including the torching of a Melbourne synagogue, and incidents of arson and offensive vandalism in Sydney.

“If someone is engaging in terrorism in our country, including firebombing synagogues, then they need to feel the full force of the law and be locked behind bars for a number of years — and that’s the bare minimum,” said James Paterson, shadow minister for home affairs on Monday.

Under the Coalition plan, a National Cabinet would be convened to combat anti-Semitism, as well as a new provisions to make hate crimes urging or threatening violence towards a place of worship punishable by five to seven years.

A Coalition Government would also introduce a minimum 12-month sentence for the public display of prohibited Nazi symbols, prohibited terrorist organisation symbols, and giving the Nazi salute in public. The maximum penalty for these crimes would be increased to five years.

“We’ve seen people behaving with impunity when they’re displaying prohibited hate symbols, including flags of listed terrorist organisations in our cities and streets,” said Mr Paterson, justifying the move.

Opposition leaders have described the country’s anti-Semitism crisis as “a clear campaign of terror,” hitching it to a wider narrative of the Coalition as the defender of law and order as political parties swing into election mode.

At a keynote speech in Queensland on Sunday, Coalition leader Peter Dutton outlined a proposed crackdown on crime and the creation of national uniform knife laws, as well as tougher bail laws and harsher penalties to prevent coercive control.

The announcement came just hours before a new Australian Financial Review/Freshwater Strategy revealed law and order had overtaken climate change as one of voters’ top three concerns.

Asked last week by The Nightly about the Coalition’s promotion of its policies as the toughest on crime, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Mr Dutton of looking for “areas of division” to “promote fear in the community.”

“Primarily law and order issues are, of course, the responsibility of state and territory governments,” he said.

As the political row over how to tackle the scourge of anti-Semitism heated up on Monday, Mr Albanese continued to reject calls to form a National Cabinet, highlighting his meeting last week with the Victoria and NSW premiers and AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw for talks on tougher action.

Operation Avalite, a taskforce created in December to investigate threats, violence and hatred towards the Australian Jewish community, had made its first arrest last week, he told reporters in Tomago.

People wanted to see “more action” not more meetings, he said.

“Peter Dutton, of course, will continue to do what Peter Dutton does,” he added in response to the mandatory minimum sentences for anti-Semitic acts.

Calling anti-Semitism “abhorrent” he said: “We’ll continue to ensure that we work with state and territory governments to stamp (it) out ... those who are engaged in it should face the full force of the law.”

The Government points to ongoing efforts to pass a Bill to create new criminal offences for directly threatening the use of force or violence against a group or member of a group, carrying maximum penalties of five to seven years.

But a sharp rebuke by Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel over the “clearly ineffectual response” from the Federal and State Governments to the “shocking rise” in anti-Semitism has added to mounting pressure on Mr Albanese to take firmer action.

Ms Haskel’s comments on X followed her meeting with Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, who travelled to Israel last week on a mission to repair frayed bilateral ties.

“There is no doubt this has been caused in part by the Australian government’s ongoing campaign against Israel,” Ms Haskel said.

A spokesperson for Mr Dreyfus called Australia’s friendship with Israel “strong and enduring.”

“The Attorney-General does not agree with Ms Haskell’s sentiments, and they are not reflective of the remainder of his meetings in Israel with senior ministers including the President of Israel,” said the spokesperson. A separate X post by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar did not take the same tone, but emphasised the “dangers posed by the politicisation of the ‘international legal institutions’,” that sought to impair Israel’s right to defend itself.

The Australian Jewish Association signalled Ms Haskel’s message reflected its own frustration, thanking her for speaking up. “We understand many of the people who met Mark Dreyfus let him know about their disappointment in the Albanese Government,” it said on social media.

Appearing alongside Coalition leaders on Monday, Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, backed moves for mandatory minimum sentencing for hate speech and hate crimes and urged a more coherent response to turn back the trend of anti-Semitic attacks.

“We need national, state and territory governments to be coordinated in their legislative responses, in terms of law enforcement, in terms of education, online and media protection. This cannot be achieved without a National Cabinet,” he said. “We need that direction from the top.”

The Jewish Community was left reeling last week when the former Dover Heights home of the ECAJ’s Alex Ryvchin was attacked with red paint, with vandals also painting anti-Semitic slurs on cars and setting them on fire.

Mr Ryvchin said the attack showed “we’re in a very dangerous state” and that it was “not a long step” from “people being personally targeted and people being killed.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns on Sunday said hate speech laws would be strengthened within weeks and protests outside places of worship outlawed.

However, Jillian Segal, the special envoy for anti-Semitism, has also publicly supported the calling of a National Cabinet, and urged more coordination between State responses to anti-Semitism, and associated laws.

Associate Prof Tyrone Kirchengast, from the University of Sydney Law School, explained such a Cabinet would act as a “high-level Consultative Committee” to establish the best choice of laws and jurisdictions and the limits on what constitutes free speech.

Dr Ron Levy, a professor at ANU’s College of Law, told The Nightly all levels of Government had the scope to do more.

“When it comes to federalism, we tend to say that there’s the blame game where when something goes wrong, one level of government says it’s the other level of government’s responsibility,” he said.

“But the truth is that, generally speaking, any level of government that can act should act if we think that there’s an important reason to act.”