Source : Perth Now news
A key report on hate speech protections is still sitting on a state government’s desk as calls for its release prompt questions about its findings.
After a spate of anti-Semitic graffiti and arson attacks, including at synagogues and childcare centres, the NSW government pushed through laws targeting racial and religious hate crimes in February 2025
But the selective changes fuelled complaints from other marginalised groups, particularly sexual minorities.
That prompted an in-depth examination to determine whether their scope should be widened.
Attorney General Michael Daley commissioned respected former NSW Supreme Court judge John Sackar to conduct the review in May 2025, and it was handed to the government in November.
But the report has been kept under wraps despite repeated calls from MPs across the political spectrum to make it public.
A NSW parliamentary order initiated by Greens MP Amanda Cohn in March under standing order 52 compelled the government to release documents within 14 days.
But the April 1 deadline lapsed without the government providing the requested report.
AAP has been told the government is not disclosing the report due to cabinet confidentiality.
Dr Cohn accused the government of “procedural trickery”.
“The government rushed through protections against hate crimes on the basis of race and religion but excluded LGBTIQ communities at the time, which was troubling, and is now scrambling to fix that,” she told AAP.
“That speaks to the problem of legislation that responds to different groups quickly.”
Dr Cohn said the independent review would have provided holistic and long-term solutions rather than a “knee-jerk response”.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Damien Tudehope, who grilled Mr Daley at budget estimates about the delay in March, slammed the government’s claim of cabinet in-confidence as a “stunt”.
“It’s a government which is doing everything in its power to avoid transparency – they’re treating us all like mugs,” he told AAP.
He said expert evidence needed to be brought before parliament to allow lawmakers to do their job effectively and pore over complex legislation.
“They have a pre-ordained position in how they selectively legislate. Why go through the pretence in the first place?” Mr Tudehope said.
A spokesperson for the attorney general said the government was still considering the review, without providing a timeline for its release or confirming it would be publicly available.
Mr Sackar previously chaired a landmark inquiry on LGBTQI hate crimes in NSW as far back as the 1970s, which found police failed to properly investigate potential gay-hate attacks.
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