Australian faith leaders express concern, urge premier to amend antisemitism, hate, extremism bill

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - Australian faith leaders urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to amend the "Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026" on Friday because of concerns about religious freedom and freedom of expression.

Twenty-seven representatives from Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, Anglican, Orthodox, Maronite, Christian, Baptist and Presbyterian institutions signed a letter to Albanese.

"As leaders across the range of faith communities in Australia, we have deep concerns about the Bill’s impact on religious freedom and freedom of expression," they wrote. "These freedoms are not peripheral considerations. They are foundational to Australia’s constitutional framework, democratic culture, and the ability of faith communities to contribute positively and responsibly to public life.”

They said that under religious freedom, which "includes the right of individuals and communities to teach, preach, and express their beliefs openly and publicly, including through sermons, religious education, pastoral guidance, and moral commentary, even where those beliefs may be contested, unpopular, or misunderstood," as long as such expression does not incite "physical harm or violence, it must be protected as a legitimate exercise of religious practice."

The legislation aims to further criminalize "hateful conduct," expand powers to allow the cancellation or refusal of visas and set up a national firearms buyback scheme, according to parliament.

It also includes a new offense that would make it illegal to incite or promote hatred on the grounds of race, color, or national or ethnic origin unless the speech or writings are direct quotes from texts central to religions, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"As a general policy, expression may be appropriately criminalized where it is used to incite or threaten physical violence against a person or a group, but it is dangerous to criminalize expression just because a person or group feels intimidated, harassed hated or threatened," said the letter.

The leaders said that faith communities, legal experts and civil society organizations have not been afforded a "reasonable amount of time to properly study the legislation, assess its legal and constitutional implications, or prepare constructive and well-considered submissions for what has been described as the 'most consequential change' to Australia’s counterterrorism laws since 9/11."

The Greens party stated its opposition to the bill in its current form.

"Laws that are designed to protect just one religion, Judaism, but fail to extend those protections to Islam and other religions are unfair, discriminatory and divisive," said Greens spokesperson for Justice and Immigration David Shoebridge.