People point to huge upsurge in vocal Jew-hate in Australia. The majority want tougher laws

Australians are backing a federal plan to toughen the law against hate speech in a bid to shield minority groups from attack, as 57 per cent of voters perceive there has been a rise in racism because of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The exclusive findings of the Resolve Political Monitor poll highlight the rising anxiety about racial and religious vilification after months of protests against both sides of the war, lending support to a Labor pledge to impose criminal sanctions on those who target people in malicious online attacks.

But voters are split on whether the fierce debate is threatening community safety, with 40 per cent saying the country was less safe – up from 36 per cent in November – but 34 per cent saying there was no change, while the remainder were unsure.

The conclusions, in the latest Resolve Political Monitor conducted for this masthead, show that only 15 per cent of voters believe there has been no increase in racism and religious intolerance as a result of the conflict, while 57 per cent thought there had been a rise.

Hundreds of Jewish Australians were targeted last month in a “doxxing” attack that released their personal information online, while some rallies in support of Palestine have led to warnings about racist chants, and the Islamophobia Register Australia has reported a surge in attacks on Muslims.

Resolve director Jim Reed said the findings showed the strong community rejection of hate speech, racism and violent protest at a time of fierce argument about the war.

“It almost goes without saying that most Australians would object to hate speech, but they balance that against the need for expression free from government intervention,” he said.

“However, they are particularly attuned to the need to tackle it now given the dangers posed to domestic social cohesion by the Middle East conflict.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last month he wanted to fast-track laws to combat hate speech and make it a criminal offence to engage in doxxing, which is the malicious publication of someone’s personal information online.

The prime minister asked Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to put the laws to parliament, with the changes going ahead regardless of a separate political dispute over religious freedom and sex discrimination laws.

“The idea that in Australia, someone should be targeted because of their religion, because of their faith, whether they be Jewish or Muslim or Hindu or Catholic or Buddhist, is just completely unacceptable,” Albanese told radio station 2GB last month.

“And that’s why I’ve asked, as well, the Attorney-General to develop proposals to strengthen laws against hate speech, which we will be doing. This is not the Australia that we want to see.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has warned against vilification in repeated comments since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, saying people could be prosecuted under criminal law for intimidation.

“Hate speech and incitement of violence has zero place in our society. Let’s be very clear about it,” he said in December.

The Resolve Political Monitor asked if people believed stronger laws were needed to ban hate speech against people based on their faith, finding that 56 per cent were in favour and 19 per cent were against.

When voters were asked if the government should make it a criminal offence to engage in the malicious publication of private information online, 74 per cent backed the idea and only 4 per cent did not, with 22 per cent unsure.

A clear majority also supported action to make social media platforms remove the doxxing material, with 73 per cent in favour of this and 6 per cent against, with 21 per cent unsure.

There was strong majority support for action on doxxing across the political divide, although the support for action on hate speech was lower among Greens voters. While 61 per cent of Labor voters and 62 per cent of Coalition voters wanted to ban hate speech, the support was 52 per cent among Greens voters.

Respondents showed strong support for diversity in the annual report on social cohesion by the Scanlon Foundation, although many say the migrant intake is too high. The latest report, issued last November, found the proportion of people with a negative attitude towards Muslims fell from 41 per cent in 2019 to 27 per cent in 2023. The November report said 9 per cent had a negative attitude toward Jews. The survey work for the Scanlon report was conducted before the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7.

The Resolve Political Monitor surveyed 1610 eligible voters from Thursday to Sunday, generating results with a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.

The question on racism in the Resolve Political Monitor was: “Some people have suggested that there has been a rise in racism and religious intolerance in Australia as a result of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Do you think this is the case or not?”

The Resolve survey found that 57 per cent said there had been an increase in racism since October, a view shared by 56 per cent of Labor voters, 62 per cent of Coalition voters and 58 per cent of Greens voters.

The survey found 33 per cent believed there was more antisemitism and 11 per cent thought there was more Islamophobia, while 55 per cent said there was both, or they were unsure. This was based on responses from 926 voters, the subset that said there was an increase in racism.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/people-point-to-a-rise-in-racism-in-australia-the-majority-want-tougher-laws-20240328-p5fg0k.html

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