On 12 January 2026, the government announced an intention to introduce into Parliament the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026. The proposed legislation aims to further criminalise hateful conduct, expand powers to allow for cancellation or refusal of visas and set up a national firearms buyback scheme. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security received an unusually large amount of correspondence and submissions from individuals and organisations in response to this enquiry – one of which was the Joint LGBTIQ+ Submission prepared on behalf of 31 LGBTIQ+ community organisations across Australia.
Sent on 15 January 2026, SARAA, and the other 30 co-signatories wrote to express our disappointment about the lack of consultation on the exposure draft with our communities, and the very short timeframe for making this submission.
As well as our deep concern and disappointed that the Bill fails to protect LGBTIQ+ people in key aspects,
including the new offence of promoting or inciting hatred and the aggravated sentencing factors, which apply exclusively to race, leaving our community without the same legal safeguards against hatred and violence.
The Bill was introduced into Parliament as 2 Bills, which were passed on 20 January 2026 – Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) and Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws)