Queensland’s New Hate Laws: The Attack Upon Free Speech in Australia is Relentless, By Tom North

 Here is an account from our "friends" at ABC.net about Queensland's new race hate laws, and more gun control. Funny how the multicult fascist state likes to run these together. After the extract you can read Amnesty.org.au critiquing this as a fundamental threat to freedom. It has been all said before; people need to start voting with their feet, and at the ballot box against all of this, or their world is gone. The first extract is:

"Sweeping new hate speech laws banning certain expressions in a way that makes a member of the public feel menaced, harassed or offended have passed in Queensland Parliament.

The state government made a last-minute change to the legislation to specifically only ban the phrases "from the river to the sea" and "globalise the intifada".

Changes to gun laws, including a requirement that firearm owners be Australian citizens, were also made.

The phrases "from the river to the sea" and "globalise the intifada" have been outlawed in Queensland when used to menace or offend someone, under legislation passed in state parliament on Thursday.

Under the changes, it will be considered an offence to use the expressions in a way that makes a member of the public feel menaced, harassed or offended.

Government to deliver tougher hate speech laws

The laws will be introduced in parliament this week and address slogans, symbols, and protections for places of worship.

The new laws include both written and spoken use of phrases, such as chants or placards at a protest, with penalties of up to two years in prison.

The banned phrases had been deemed antisemitic by the state government.

The bill had originally left scope for the attorney-general to ban any expression that incited violence, harm or offence.

The Crisafulli government made a last-minute change to its legislation, the night before parliament sat for the week, to specifically ban the two expressions.

The changed tack meant additional phrases would need to be passed in legislation.

The Labor opposition voted against the bill, despite leader Steven Miles indicating before the amendments were put forward that the party would vote in favour of the legislation.

During debate Labor MPs raised concerns proper consultation on the two specific phrases had not been able to occur because they were not named in the initial legislation and therefore could not be scrutinised during the committee process.

"The LNP made changes at the 11th hour and didn't even give our members the chance to review, consult or debate those changes," Mr Miles said.

"David Crisafulli and the LNP also gagged debate, cutting short the conversation about these serious laws.

"It's an incredible abuse of their overwhelming majority in the parliament, an abuse we couldn't stand by."

When asked why Labor voted against the bill, Shadow Minister for Mental Health Mark Bailey said: "we believe in the freedom of speech."

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said Labor's decision to vote against the laws were "extraordinary".

'Decisive action'

Police Minister Dan Purdie told parliament on Thursday the laws were necessary and powerful.

"Jewish Queenslanders simply don't feel safe. They don't feel protected," he said

"This government is committed to ensuring all Queenslanders can live free from hate and violence."

Mr Purdie said the government was taking "decisive action " by enshrining the phrases into legislation.

"The government has not taken the decision to prohibit these expressions lightly,"

he said.

The phrases were often heard at pro-Palestinian protests around Queensland. (ABC News: Liana Walker)

Mr Purdie said the state government had always been clear it only intended to prohibit two phrases.

"We have never wavered from that intention," he said.

"In fact, we have repeatedly stated that we do not propose to prohibit any other phrases."

The laws also include restrictions on symbols, and offences for intimidation at places of worship, with penalties of up to seven years in prison.

Changes to gun laws

Mr Purdie said the state's new gun laws included "nation leading penalties for firearms misuse".

New Qld guns law restrict weapons ownership

The laws aim to crack down on rising gun crime and include tougher penalties for drive-by shootings.

"This bill implements a wide range of measures that [are] designed to increase community safety."

The bill was part of the state government's response to the Bondi Beach terror attack in December with the bill also including a separate component focusing on major gun law changes.

Those include mandating that new gun licence applicants be Australian citizens.

It also featured changes to bolster penalties for a range of firearm offences around stealing and trafficking, and new offences for drive-by shootings, particularly at places of worship.

Queensland will not participate in a national gun buyback scheme brought in by the Commonwealth in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

'An absolute sham'

During the debate, Shadow Police Minister Glenn Butcher raised concerns that the original bill went "too far on criminalising freedom of speech and not far enough on gun reform".

"The consultation for this bill was an absolute sham, and now there have been amendments released at the last minute," he told parliament on Tuesday.

The Labor Opposition said they only saw the amendments, which specified the two phrases, on Wednesday afternoon.

Glenn Butcher raised concerns about consultation on the bill.

Mr Butcher said the Labor leader had written to the state government in December to offer bipartisan support to create proposed legislation in response to the Bondi Beach terror attack.

He said the LNP government had rejected that offer.

"We believe in freedom of speech, we believe in gun reform laws, and we believe that more work needs to be done on strengthening vilification and hate speech laws in this parliament," the Gladstone member of parliament said.

"We owe it to current and future generations to get these laws right, not rush them."

In a submission on the bill, the Islamic Council of Queensland (ICQ) suggested the bill posed a threat to civil liberties and political expression.

The ICQ said the two phrases were understood by their community "not as incitements to physical violence, but as calls for justice, democracy, and equal treatment for all citizens in the Holy Land".

The Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies (QJBD) said, in their submission, the phrases played a key role in incidents designed to intimidate Jewish individuals.

They said it was essential that the use of slogans promoting "Jew-hatred or violence" was addressed through reasonable and proportionate legal measures.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-05/qld-hate-speech-laws-passed-parliament/106420306

https://www.amnesty.org.au/queensland-law-poses-serious-threat-to-fundamental-freedoms/

Freedom of expression, association and assembly Australia

Queensland law poses serious threat to fundamental freedoms

27 February 2026

Responding to recommendations tabled today by Queensland's Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee to proceed with laws banning particular expressions, Amnesty International has warned that the new laws would pose a dangerous threat to fundamental rights.

The Committee's support for anti-protest provisions in Queensland's Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping Guns out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Bill 2026 forms part of a broader and deeply concerning crackdown on protest across Australia, marked by expanded police powers and increasingly punitive penalties for protestors.

"Amnesty unequivocally condemns antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism and all forms of racism and violence. Combating hatred requires principled, evidence-based action that addresses its root causes, not sweeping laws that suppress peaceful expression and restricts human rights." said Nikita White, Amnesty International Strategic Campaigner.

"Combating hatred requires principled, evidence-based action that addresses its root causes, not sweeping laws that suppress peaceful expression and restricts human rights."

Nikita White, Amnesty International Strategic Campaigner

The Committee recommended the Bill be passed despite identifying potential incompatibilities with human rights. The Committee found these incompatibilities are justified and necessary, contrary to clear evidence from Amnesty and other human rights organisations that the Bill disproportionately restricts human rights. Labor members of the Committee called for more consultation, noting the Bill's ban on prohibited expressions risks unintended consequences, and Greens' Members recommended the Bill not be passed.

"The Queensland Government has unfairly conflated peaceful expression with antisemitism. Amnesty calls on the Crisafulli government to urgently reconsider this approach – undermining freedom of expression is not the solution to addressing antisemitism.

"While governments have an obligation to protect people from violence, discrimination and incitement to hatred, international law also requires any restriction on speech or protest be lawful, necessary and proportionate. This legislation fails that test and instead prohibits expressions that are historically used in peaceful protest movements.

"The prohibition of phrases, including 'from the river to the sea', is a clear overreach.

"Criminalising political expression that does not amount to incitement to violence is incompatible with international human rights standards and Australia's implied Constitutional freedom of political communication. It risks stifling peaceful protest and disproportionately impacts those expressing solidarity with Palestinians," said Nikita White.

"Criminalising political expression that does not amount to incitement to violence is incompatible with international human rights standards and Australia's implied Constitutional freedom of political communication."

Nikita White

Queensland's Criminal Code 1899 already makes serious vilification based on race, religion, sexuality, sex characteristics and gender identity a criminal offence.

Amnesty is also deeply concerned by the law's proposal to prescribe additional offences under the "Adult Crime, Adult Time" scheme. These provisions will disproportionately impact First Nations young people, who are already overrepresented in Queensland's youth justice system and detained at unacceptably high rates in police watchhouses and youth detention centres.

Expanding punitive measures against children will only compound existing systemic discrimination and entrench harmful cycles of incarceration.