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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Paul Karp Chief political correspondent

Labor’s ‘thought crime’ hate speech laws will turn nation into ‘police state’, Australian Christian Lobby says

A cross on the spire of a church
The ACL warned the hate speech bill had the ‘clear potential to serve as the instrument of viewpoint suppression on ideological grounds’. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

The Australian Christian Lobby has claimed that Labor’s hate speech laws would turn Australia into a “police state” by creating “thought crime” despite the fact the laws are directed towards threats of force or harm.

The Albanese government has substantially watered down the laws but is nevertheless facing a religious backlash, with the Catholic church and Christian Schools Australia claiming that the psychological harm definition will mean the view that sex is immutable will be outlawed as “hateful”.

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