Offence of publicly threatening or inciting violence on grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex or HIV/AIDS status
93Z Offence of publicly threatening or inciting violence on grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex or HIV/AIDS status
A person who, by a public act, intentionally or recklessly threatens or incites violence towards another person or a group of persons on any of the following grounds is guilty of an offence—
the race of the other person or one or more of the members of the group,
that the other person has, or one or more of the members of the group have, a specific religious belief or affiliation,
the sexual orientation of the other person or one or more of the members of the group,
the gender identity of the other person or one or more of the members of the group,
that the other person is, or one or more of the members of the group are, of intersex status,
that the other person has, or one or more of the members of the group have, HIV or AIDS.
Maximum penalty—
for an individual—200 penalty units or imprisonment for 5 years, or both, or
otherwise—1,000 penalty units.
A person commits an offence against this subsection if—
the person, by a public act, intentionally or recklessly threatens or incites violence towards another person or a group of persons on any of the grounds referred to in subsection (1)(a)–(f), and
the conduct referred to in paragraph (a) results in violence being committed against another person or a group of persons.
Maximum penalty—
for an individual—400 penalty units or imprisonment for 7 years, or both, or
otherwise—2,000 penalty units.
In determining whether an alleged offender has committed an offence against this section, it is irrelevant whether the alleged offender’s assumptions or beliefs about an attribute of another person or a member of a group of persons referred to in subsection (1) (a)–(f) were correct or incorrect at the time that the offence is alleged to have been committed.
In determining whether an alleged offender has committed an offence against subsection (1) of intentionally or recklessly inciting violence, it is irrelevant whether or not, in response to the alleged offender’s public act, any person formed a state of mind or carried out any act of violence.
A prosecution for an offence against this section may be commenced only by—
the Director of Public Prosecutions, or
a police officer.
In this section—
gender identity means the gender related identity, appearance or mannerisms or other gender related characteristics of a person (whether by way of medical intervention or not), with or without regard to the person’s designated sex at birth.
intersex status means the status of having physical, hormonal or genetic features that are—
neither wholly female nor wholly male, or
a combination of female and male, or
neither female nor male.
public act includes—
any form of communication (including speaking, writing, displaying notices, graffiti, playing of recorded material, broadcasting and communicating through social media and other electronic methods) to the public, and
any conduct (including actions and gestures and the wearing or display of clothing, signs, flags, emblems and insignia) observable by the public, and
the distribution or dissemination of any matter to the public.
For the avoidance of doubt, an act may be a public act even if it occurs on private land.
race includes colour, nationality, descent and ethnic, ethno-religious or national origin.
religious belief or affiliation means holding or not holding a religious belief or view.
sexual orientation means a person’s sexual orientation towards—
persons of the same sex, or
persons of a different sex, or
persons of the same sex and persons of a different sex.
violence includes violent conduct and violence towards a person or a group of persons includes violence towards property of the person or a member of the group, respectively.
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