Tasmania’s Attorney-General Guy Barnett has announced the state government will be strengthening laws against crimes motivated by discrimination, race and hate.
On Thursday, Barnett revealed plans to amend Section 11B of the Sentencing Act 1997, following recommendations made in a Sentencing Advisory Council report delivered in May.
“The Tasmanian Government is putting offenders on notice,” Barnett said.
“This behaviour is anti-Tasmanian and it won’t be tolerated.
“We are sending a message to those people in our communities who are committing crimes that are motivated by prejudice, such as race or hate. We will throw the book at you.”
The proposed legislation will also aim to broaden the scope to apply a sentence ‘aggravation factor’ in cases of prejudicial or hateful motivation, include an illustrative list of groups captured by the broadened scope and provide an alternative legal test to establish elements of prejudicial or hateful motivation.
Local advocacy group Equality Tasmania have welcomed the announcement, while calling for more to be done to prevent these sort of crimes.
Spokesperson Rodney Croome (pictured above) says the proposal shows the government is taking hate crime against LGBTIQA+ people seriously.
“Hate-motivated attacks against LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians are a serious and under-reported problem,” Croome said.
“The proposed law reform should be complemented by further measures including Tasmania Police recognising, recording and gathering evidence when a crime is motivated by prejudice, discrimination or hate.
“There should also be community education campaigns about the deep trauma caused by hate crime against members of minority communities.”
The Attorney-General’s announcement comes just after the Tasmanian Government confirmed their support for a financial redress scheme for people convicted under historical laws against homosexuality.
The draft hate crime bill will be released for consultation in early 2025 before introduction to parliament.
