Australia recalls parliament early to pass hate speech laws after Bondi Hanukkah terror attack

Australia’s parliament will reopen two weeks early to crack down on hate crimes and gun ownership following the terror attack targeting a Jewish event at Bondi Beach, the government says.

Australia has flagged a suite of reforms to hate crime and gun laws since the December 14 attack that killed 15 people — the country’s deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will recall both houses of parliament for a sitting from January 19-20 to pass the new legislation and offer condolences to the victims.

Members of parliament had been scheduled to return from their summer break on February 3.

“The terrorists at Bondi Beach had hatred in their minds but guns in their hands — this law will deal with both,” Albanese tells a news conference.

The legislation will create new offenses for “hate preachers,” stiffen hate crime penalties, expand a ban on prohibited symbols, and set the framework for a new list of banned hate groups.

It will allow the home affairs minister to reject or cancel visas for people intending to spread hatred, the prime minister says.

The laws will enable the launch of a national guns buyback scheme, the largest since Australia last targeted firearms following a mass shooting in 1996 that killed 35 people at Port Arthur, Tasmania.

Stricter checks would also be imposed for gun licenses, the government says.

Details of the draft laws are to be released publicly tomorrow.

Last week, the government announced a royal commission inquiry into the Bondi Beach terror attack. The federal royal commission — the highest level of government inquiry — will probe everything from intelligence failures to the prevalence of antisemitism in Australia.