Barrister AI
All legislation
VICAct
In force
This is the latest official compilation.Check the official source →
s 195N

Incitement on ground of protected attribute

In force
Part IOffences
Division 2DSerious vilification

195N Incitement on ground of protected attribute

(1)

A person commits an offence if—

(a)

the person engages in conduct that is likely to incite hatred against, serious contempt for, revulsion towards or severe ridicule of, another person or a group of persons; and

(b)

the person engages in the conduct on the ground of a protected attribute of the other person or the group; and

(c)

the person either—

(i)

intends that conduct to incite hatred against, serious contempt for, revulsion towards or severe ridicule of, the other person or the group; or

(ii)

believes that conduct will probably incite hatred against, serious contempt for, revulsion towards or severe ridicule of, the other person or the group.

(2)

A person who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable to 3 years imprisonment.

(3)

For the purposes of subsection (1), the conduct may be constituted by a single occasion or by a number of occasions over a period of time.

(5)

If conduct engaged in from outside Victoria is alleged to constitute an offence against subsection (1), every person against whom the offence is alleged to have been committed must have been in Victoria when at least some of the conduct was engaged in for the conduct to constitute that offence.

(6)

Conduct that—

(a)

is engaged in from outside Victoria; and

(b)

is against a group of persons that is defined solely by the possession of a protected attribute—

does not constitute an offence against subsection (1).

Example

If a person in another State engages in conduct that is against all people of a certain race, whether or not those people are within Victoria, that conduct does not constitute an offence against subsection (1).

(7)

If any of the conduct alleged to constitute an offence against subsection (1) is engaged in from within Victoria, it does not matter whether a person against whom the offence is alleged to have been committed was outside Victoria at that time.

S. 195O inserted by No. 11/2025 s. 4.

Research tools for this sectionPro

The statute text is free to read above. View Pro plans to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.