The Rationalist Society of Australia is calling on the federal parliament to reconsider the inclusion of religious exemptions in any new hate speech laws.

The Albanese government’s Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 – which is expected to be debated when parliament resumes this coming week – contains a religious exemption for the proposed new offence of publicly inciting racial hatred.

The defence says that a person who publicly incites racial hatred is not guilty if the person is “directly quoting from, or otherwise referencing, a religious text for the purpose of religious teaching or discussion”. 

The draft law does not define ‘religious text’, making it unclear whether the term applies only to holy books, such as the Bible or Koran, or includes texts such as pamphlets and brochures that deal with religious ideas.

“We’re concerned about what appears to be a broad and unclear religious exemption in the legislation,” said Si Gladman, Executive Director of the RSA.

“Religion should not be an excuse for committing crimes.”

The carve-out would effectively allow hate speech to escape criminal consequences applicable to others as long as it is quoted from a religious text.

By contrast, there is no religious exemption in Victoria’s recently-enacted laws that made it a crime to incite hatred against others on the basis of a protected attribute.

The RSA also shares the concerns of civil liberties groups about the possible impacts and risks to freedom of expression and democratic rights if legislation is rushed through parliament without an opportunity for adequate scrutiny by members of parliament and experts.

Mr Gladman said the RSA would be supportive of properly drafted laws that comply with Australia’s international human rights obligations, including the right to freedom of speech and the right to freedom of religion or belief.

The federal government’s proposed new offence of publicly inciting racial hatred is intended to sit between existing federal civil prohibitions on racial vilification and existing federal criminal prohibitions on advocating racial violence.

However, the civil prohibition on racial vilification in section 18C of the federal Racial Discrimination Act does not include a religious exemption.

Conduct that falls outside the proposed new criminal offence might still fall within the existing federal civil prohibition. For example, in 2025 the Federal Court found that a hardline Muslim preacher had contravened section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by preaching what the judge called “racist and antisemitic material” in a series of prayer hall lectures.

Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.

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Photo by Masjid MABA on Unsplash.