The Zionist Federation of Australia calls on the Government, Opposition and crossbench to work
together this week to ensure legislation passes Parliament that will effectively enable the banning
of extremist organisations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir.
With the racial hatred offence unlikely to pass this week, there is a real risk that the proposed
hate-group proscription regime will not operate as intended. If that occurs, Parliament will have
failed to deliver on a central objective of this emergency sitting.
The outcome of this parliamentary session cannot be limited to gun reform alone. It must also
ensure Australia has the necessary legislative tools to confront extremist organisations operating
openly within our society, including Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is already proscribed in Germany and
the United Kingdom.
ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said both the Government and the Opposition have been clear
about the need to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Quotes attributable to ZFA President Jeremy Leibler:
“Hizb ut-Tahrir has for years praised acts of terrorism and sought to normalise the most extreme
forms of Jew hatred, and both the Government and Opposition have now called for them to be
banned.
If, because of these amendments, Hizb ut-Tahrir cannot be banned, then the Bill has a serious
problem and Parliament needs to work together to fix it.”
If Parliament is serious about addressing antisemitism and extremism, it must deal with the root
causes. Ensuring an effective and workable regime to proscribe groups who intentionally promote
the most extreme forms of racial hatred is a critical step in confronting the vilification and
violence that has been increasingly normalised.”