Advocates have welcomed the Tasmanian Government’s proposed hate crime legislation, as the Bill opens for consultation today.
The Sentencing Amendment (Aggravating Factors) Bill 2025, announced in May 2024, responds to recommendations made by the Sentencing Advisory Council after a review of the Sentencing Act 1997.
The review’s Final Report makes four recommendations for amendments be made to the Act, including expanding the scope of the Act to include prejudicial offending as an aggravating factor in sentencing and include an illustative list of groups or attributes covered by the Act.
The Bill proposes amendments to enact all four recommendations of the report. The Tasmanian Department of Justice says the Bill supports the Rockliff Liberal Government’s “commitment to ensure that Tasmania is a safe place for people of all backgrounds and that hateful, prejudicial and opportunistic offending will be considered as aggravating factors in the sentencing process.”
Equality Tasmania say the Bill is welcome, and the local LGBTIQA+ advocacy group wants to see further commitments.
“We welcome the Bill because it treats hate crime against LGBTIQA+ people, people with disability, people of faith and others the same as hate crime against racial and ethnic groups,” Equality Tasmania spokesperson Rodney Croome said.
“But for the law to work, it must be accompanied by funding for police to properly identify, record and gather evidence about hate-motivated crime.”
The proposed amendments would mean judges would be able to deliver stronger sentences for crimes motivated by hate against a range of characteristics, as is already the case for crime driven by racial hatred.
“Giving judges the power to pass harsher sentences for hate-motivated crime will only make a difference if the police have the training and resources to present evidence in court for hatred as a motivation.”
The Bill is currently open for consultation until 23 March 2025.
