Inciting hatred, contempt or ridiculing someone because of their religious beliefs is set to become a crime in New South Wales (NSW).
The NSW government has flagged plans to introduce legislation prohibiting vilification on the grounds of religious belief, affiliation or activity.
Multiculturalism Minister Steve Kamper says religious vilification is on the rise.
“This is unacceptable,” he said on Wednesday.
“Members of the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths have all raised concerns about the growing levels of intolerance towards members of their communities.”
The legislation would provide faith communities with similar protections granted to members of diverse and multicultural communities.
The bill follows up on Labor’s election commitment to amend the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 to prohibit religious vilification.
The bill will amend the Anti-Discrimination Act to make it unlawful to, by a public act, incite hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of a person or group of persons because of their religious belief, affiliation or activity.
A “public act” includes any form of communication to the public, verbal and non-verbal.
The amendments in the bill are modelled on the existing provisions that make vilification unlawful on the grounds of race, homosexuality, transgender status and HIV/AIDS status.
The law will also protect people who do not hold religious beliefs or affiliations in recognition that their beliefs about religious matters should be protected.
A broad range of stakeholder groups were consulted, including religious faith and advocacy organisations as well as community advocacy organisations, legal stakeholders and NSW government agencies.
Attorney-General Michael Daley says no one should have to encounter public hate due to their religious beliefs.
“For the most part, we are a tolerant society, and we welcome people to NSW from all over the world,” he said.
“However, we need to have laws that protect people of faith from public actions that incite hatred, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule for religious beliefs.”
