Aleph Melbourne

LGBTIQA+ Jewish group calls for broader protections in bill

Aleph Melbourne spokesperson Michael Barnett said it made no sense that half of the group’s identity was protected from hate and the other half wasn’t

By AJN STAFF
January 14, 2026, 2:36 pm

An Australian Jewish LGBTIQA+ group has called on the federal government to prohibit hate speech against LGBTIQA+ people as well as the Jewish community in its proposed anti-hate legislation.

Aleph Melbourne spokesperson Michael Barnett said it made no sense that half of the group’s identity was protected from hate and the other half wasn’t.

“The same ideology is being used to drive attacks on both the LGBTIQA+ and Jewish communities. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists want to eradicate gay and trans people as much as they want to eradicate Jews,” Barnett said.

“This is one reason why the Executive Council of Australian Jewry has in recent years backed greater protections for LGBTIQA+ people. We call on the government to treat anti-LGBTIQA+ hate as seriously as antisemitic hate. There is no room for either in Australia.”

The government on Monday released the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026, which prohibits vilification and hate-motivated crime on the basis of race, but no other attributes.

Just.Equal Australia spokesperson Rodney Croome said passing laws against only one kind of hate meant other forms were seen as legitimate and less deserving of a response.

“One important lesson from the Bondi tragedy is that the Government shouldn’t wait until attacks escalate before taking tough action against hate,” Croome said.

“National hate speech and hate crime laws should cover LGBTIQA+ people as well as all other Australians vulnerable to hate. The Prime Minister has said ‘more could have been done’ to prevent the Bondi attack, so let’s now do more, not less.”

The statement from Aleph Melbourne and Just.Equal Australia documented an alarming increase in anti-LGBTIQA+ attacks in recent years, often overlapping with antisemitism.

In 2025, Melbourne gay venues Laird Hotel and Eagle Leather were defaced with white supremacist slogans on the same night Jewish venues were targeted.

In 2023, neo-Nazis endorsed and gave the Nazi salute at a Melbourne protest and rally against people who are transgender, drawing an association between racial purity and gender purity. In the same year, neo-Nazis targeted a Jewish drag queen in Melbourne.

In 2020, a Melbourne golf course was defaced by homophobic and antisemitic graffiti, and in 2021 a fresh concrete path in Melbourne was defaced with “Kill Gays” and swastikas.

The Private Lives 3 study conducted by La Trobe University in 2020-21, which surveyed almost 7000 LGBTIQA+ Australians, found 35 per cent had experienced verbal abuse including hateful phone calls, 24 per cent had experienced being spat at and offensive gestures, 22 per cent had experienced written threats of abuse via emails and social media, and 15 per cent had experienced threats of physical violence, physical attack or assault without a weapon.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim identified the lack of protection for other attributes as one of four shortcomings in the proposed legislation.

“The offence is limited to the promotion of hatred of others on the basis of their race. Promoting hatred on the basis of other inherent attributes such as gender identity, sexual orientation, age or disability will not be proscribed. People who are targeted for hatred on the basis of these other attributes are equally entitled to protection,” Wertheim said.

Federal parliament will be recalled next Monday and Tuesday to pass the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026, which could see hardline Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir finally proscribed.

The Bondi Beach terror attack on December 14 killed 15 people during a Chanukah celebration.