Tasmania has become a nation leader in combating hate crime after parliament unanimously passed landmark legislation expanding protections for vulnerable communities.
The Sentencing Amendment (Aggravating Factors) Act 2025, passed last week.
It allows courts to impose tougher penalties on offenders who target people based on characteristics including race, age, religious belief, language, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex and disability.
The reforms expand existing provisions that previously only covered racially motivated crimes.
Professor Nicole Asquith, co-convenor of the Tasmanian Prejudice Related Violence Working Group, said the reforms will enhance the legal measures available to police and prosecutors.
The legislation also includes capacity to recognise “any other prescribed attribute”, such as homelessness, making it one of the broadest hate crime laws in Australia.
Multicultural advocate Aimen Jafri called the reform “a promising step toward making our island stronger and safer”.
“[It] honours all Tasmanians who have been subjected to hate crimes and felt unheard,” he said.
Rodney Croome from Equality Tasmania praised the unanimous parliamentary support as sending “a strong message that hate-motivated crimes against LGBTIQA+ people and other Tasmanians are unacceptable and have no place in Tasmanian society”.
The new law adopts best-practice provisions from the UK, allowing courts to consider whether offenders “demonstrated, or expressed, hostility, malice or ill-will” towards protected attributes.
This approach addresses existing problems with proving an offender’s mindset and whether “hate” motivated their actions.
“What is said before, during and after an offence is the primary forensic evidence of hate motivation,” Professor Asquith said.
COTA Tasmania CEO Brigid Wilkinson welcomed the legislation’s inclusion of age-based protections.
“With the oldest demographic in Australia, this reform will help shape a more age friendly state we can all benefit from,” she said.
