Australia news live: Greens leader fears locking in hate speech laws too fast could ‘criminalise people for legitimate political expression’

Larissa Waters says ‘with every turn, experts and stakeholders and faith leaders and academics are finding new concerns with it’. Follow the latest updates live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Larissa Waters , the Greens’ leader, also says she’s concerned there has not been enough time to evaluate the legislation, warning there are a “raft of unintended consequences that could occur”. Waters told RN Breakfast: We’ve only had a handful of days to look at this legislation, and it’s very consequential legislation … And with every turn, experts and stakeholders and faith leaders and academics are finding new concerns with it. A key concern is that you can’t combat hate if you don’t combat it for everyone. A key concern that we have … is that these laws, as they’re drafted right now, could be weaponised to shut down legitimate political protest. Given the tightness of the timeframe … there is a real risk that locking in laws that aren’t right could criminalise people for legitimate political expression. That is a dangerous path. We’ve got serious concerns with respect to whether or not the bill meets its objective … It really is concerning that we’re in this stage where we’re less than one business day away from Parliament coming together and these serious concerns persist. We’re in a situation where we’re dealing with such a significant piece of legislation, complicated legislation, legislation which deals with the raft of matters which are contained in this one monster omnibus bill, which is a totally inappropriate way to address this situation. Continue reading...