PM ‘stunned’ by coalition’s woes over hate speech bill

Grace Crivellaro and Tess Ikonomou | January 15, 2026

Anthony Albanese is “stunned” by the coalition’s complaints about being rushed into reviewing sweeping hate speech laws in the wake of the deadly Bondi terror attack.

The prime minister said the coalition had been hypocritical in continuing to criticise an early return to parliament after they called for it for weeks in the aftermath of the December 14 massacre.

“The coalition, day after day, very clearly called for parliament to be recalled not on Monday, January 19, but during Christmas week,” he told ABC Sydney radio on Thursday.

“Now they’re saying that this is somehow rushed.”

A senior coalition figure said the Liberal Party is poised to oppose the legislation that adds new hate crimes and includes firearms-related reforms, given members of the conservative flank had already come out against it.

Senator Jonathon Duniam said the party’s biggest concern is that it’s being pushed through too quickly, adding it doesn’t properly address anti-Semitism.

“They’ve done well when it comes to bringing in laws urgently, but a big fail on laws doing exactly what it is they need to do,” he told reporters in Canberra.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley had repeatedly demanded the prime minister recall parliament before Christmas to urgently pass legislation.

“We should be back in parliament strengthening those hate speech laws today,” she told 4BC radio on December 22.

“It needs to be done now and it should be done now.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke labelled the coalition’s criticisms that the timeline the bill is being reviewed is too rushed as hypocritical and that there could not be a more “serious impetus for urgent action”.

The coalition has not yet decided on its support for the legislation, with Nationals Senator Susan McDonald saying the bill “has very few friends” and sought to do too much.

“Absolutely we’ve called for legislation to be brought forward,” the senator told ABC RN.

“We’ve called for the parliament to be reformed because it is absolutely critical that we eradicate anti-Semitism in this country and that we remove radical Islam.”

Barnaby Joyce, who has recently joined One Nation, said the party would not back the legislation as it would punish “recreational pig shooters in country areas” who should not be lumped in with terrorists.

He told ABC Radio that Sydney residents could be “easily cajoled” into believing the gun reforms were a solution post-terror attack as they generally don’t own firearms.

Hate speech laws will be debated on Monday when parliament returns early following the December 14 massacre at Bondi Beach.

Under the changes, hate speech and racial vilification offences would be introduced with a defence included for people quoting directly from a religious text.

Religious leaders are also urging the government to halt and rewrite the laws, saying it may open people up to prosecution over past remarks in its current form.

Anglican Bishop Michael Stead said the reform created a “minefield of definitions” about hate and that the bill included a retrospective element in relation to banned groups.

Dr Stead told a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday that the bill could be expanded to claim Christian teaching caused serious harm, leading to a Christian organisation being listed as a hate group.

Australian National Imams Council President Sheikh Shadi Alsuleiman said the bill created “serious legal uncertainty” by exposing past lawful speech to new penalties.

“This contradicts fundamental principles of the legality and places religious leaders whose sermons are often public (and) recorded under ongoing retrospective risk,” he said.

Sheikh Alsuleiman also said the reform needed to be delayed by at least a month because a time frame of one week to consider all the implications was unreasonable.

A report on the hate speech reforms is due on Friday before debate next week.

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