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Agence France-Presse

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised a sweeping crackdown on hate, division and radicalisation on Thursday after a mass shooting killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.
“Australians are shocked and angry. I am angry. It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge, much more,” Albanese told a news conference.
The prime minister outlined a suite of measures to target extremist preachers, impose stiffer punishments and refuse or cancel visas for people who spread “hate and division”.
Critics in the Jewish Australian community and beyond have assailed the prime minister for not doing more to protect them from rising antisemitism.
New “aggravated hate speech” laws will punish preachers and leaders stoking hatred and violence, Albanese said.
He vowed harsher penalties, too.
Australia would develop a regime for listing organisations whose leaders engage in hate speech, he said.
“Serious vilification” based on race or advocating racial supremacy is to become a federal offence.
The government will also boost the home affairs minister’s powers to cancel or reject visas for people who spread “hate and division”, he said.


Albanese said a task force is being set up with a 12-month mission to ensure the education system “properly responds” to antisemitism.
“Every Jewish Australian has the right to be proud of who they are and what they believe,” he said.
“And every Jewish Australian has the right to feel safe, valued and respected for the contribution that they make to our great nation.”
Australia’s response to anti-Jewish prejudice “has been a long time coming”, the country’s antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal said.
“We stand, I think, at a very important moment, not only for our community but for fighting antisemitism around the world.”
As Albanese spoke, mourners gathered for the funeral of a 10-year-old girl among those gunned down while celebrating Hanukkah on Sunday at Sydney’s famous beach.
“Matilda is our little ray of sunshine,” said the rabbi leading the service, reading out a message from her school.
“She is genuinely the most kind, caring and compassionate young girl, who brightened everyone’s day with her radiant smile and infectious laugh.”

Black-clad mourners clutched bouquets of lilies as they filed into the funeral at Sydney’s Chevra Kadisha, a Jewish society responsible for customary burial rites.
Others held balloons emblazoned with pictures of bumblebees, a reference to the young girl’s nickname “Matilda Bee”.
Photos taken in the hours before the first bullets were fired showed the young girl stroking animals at a petting zoo and smiling after having her face painted.
Matilda’s family, who have asked the media not to publish their last name, left Ukraine to settle in Australia before the Russian invasion.
“I couldn’t imagine I would lose my daughter here. It’s just a nightmare,” mother Valentyna told reporters ahead of the funeral.
“It just stays here and here, and I can’t get it out,” she said, pointing to her head and heart.
Her father, Michael, said they chose her name as a nod to Australia, where the beloved folk song “Waltzing Matilda” is sung as an unofficial national anthem.
“We came here from Ukraine, and Matilda was our firstborn here in Australia,” he said earlier this week.
“And I thought that Matilda was the most Australian name that could ever exist.
“So just remember. Remember her name.”

Sajid Akram and his son Naveed are accused of opening fire on the Jewish Hanukkah celebration in an antisemitic attack.
Father Sajid, 50, was killed in a shoot-out with police but 24-year-old Naveed survived.
Reportedly an unemployed bricklayer, Naveed was charged on Wednesday with 15 murders, an act of terrorism and dozens of other serious crimes.
Authorities believe the pair were radicalised by “Islamic State ideology”.
Australian police are investigating whether the pair met Islamist extremists during a visit to the Philippines weeks before the shooting.
The Philippines said on Wednesday there was no evidence that the country was being used for “terrorist training”.


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Australia

Australia pushes tougher hate speech laws after Bondi Beach shooting

Mourners gather for the funeral of a 10-year-old girl, who was killed in the Bondi Beach shooting, in Sydney on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Matilda’s mother Valentyna (centre) leaves after attending her daughter’s funeral in Sydney on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) speaks to people during an interfaith memorial service for the Bondi Beach shooting victims at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Alleged Bondi Beach shooter Naveed Akram charged with terrorism, murder

Family members react at the coffin of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a victim in the Bondi Beach shooting, during his funeral at a synagogue in Sydney on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

A portrait of Matilda, who was killed in the Bondi shooting, is displayed during a vigil in Sydney on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Bondi shooting: bystander who tackled gunman hailed as ‘genuine hero’

Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, is seen tackling one of the Bondi gunmen in this screengrab from a social media video. Photo: X

Isis-inspired Bondi Beach gunmen visited Philippines before shooting: police

Mourners place flowers at a makeshift memorial at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

A man lays flowers at a makeshift memorial at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) meets Ahmed al Ahmed at a Sydney hospital on Tuesday. Photo: Australian Prime Minister’s Office via AP

Grandparents of a girl who was killed in the Bondi Beach shooting are comforted at a floral memorial to honour the victims in Sydney on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

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Asia

Australasia

Prime Minister Albanese vowed to fight the ‘evil scourge’ of division and outlined measures to punish preachers stoking violence


Prime Minister Albanese vowed to fight the ‘evil scourge’ of division and outlined measures to punish preachers stoking violence.


Anthony Albanese

Crime

Islamic militancy

Australian government

Australia pushes tougher hate speech laws after Bondi Beach shooting

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Prime Minister Albanese vowed to fight the ‘evil scourge’ of division and outlined measures to punish preachers stoking violence

Prime Minister Albanese vowed to fight the ‘evil scourge’ of division and outlined measures to punish preachers stoking violence