Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2025

The Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2025 is Australian legislation that amends the Criminal Code Act 1995 to address hate-motivated offences more robustly. The bill will make it a crime to ’intentionally and publicly incite hatred towards another person, or group of people on the grounds of race’. This legislative move comes in response to a surge in antisemitic incidents and other hate motivated crimes across Australia. The aim is to provide law enforcement with more effective tools to combat these offences. 
Key provisions of the bill include:

• New offences 
  The legislation creates offences for threating force or violence against targeted groups and their members as well as against places of worship. These offences protect groups distinguished by race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality, national or ethnic origin or political opinion. 
   
• Expanded protections
  It broadens the list of protected groups under the public display of prohibited hate symbols offenses, explicitly including attributes such as sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status.
   
• Increased penalties and mandatory minimum sentences
  The bill imposes stricter penalties for individuals and corporations found guilty of hate speech with fines up to $11,000 for individuals and $55,000 for corporations. It also increases the maximum penalties for offences relating to the display of Nazi symbols, the Nazi salute and prohibited terrorist organisation symbols from one year to five years and impose mandatory minimum sentences of 12 months imprisonment for these offences. They also impose mandatory minimum sentences for certain terrorism-related offences ranging from one to six years. 

If you need guidance on how this can be incorporated into your current policies and procedures, please reach out to the Workplace Relations Team on 07 3872 2264 or at workplacerelations@amaq.com.au