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Religious freedom

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What do we want to stand for as a nation?

We’re a great nation. Let’s remind ourselves why that is

Compared with much of the world, everything “just works” in Australia, right? No, it doesn’t. It’s up to us to make sure it keeps working.

  • Parnell Palme McGuinness

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Mourners gather at Bondi Pavilion’s floral memorial at for victims of the massacre on Sunday.

What kind of Australia do we want to be? Let’s stop dodging the hard questions

The Bondi massacre is a tipping point. Now, confronting serious points of tension is a precondition for sustaining a successful multicultural society.

  • Josh Szeps
Gareth Hales (centre, in blue Scott Yung T-shirt), the son of the Brethren’s world leader, Bruce Hales, at the Bennelong polling booth in Sydney on April 30.

Mother hit by Liberal pamphlets tells inquiry Brethren made voting ‘unsafe’

Evidence is flooding into a parliamentary committee inquiry about bad behaviour by members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church on behalf of the Liberal Party at the federal election.

  • Michael Bachelard
Brethren members, wearing clothes to make them unrecognisable, supporting the Liberal candidate head to a polling booth in Kooyong.

‘I’m glad we didn’t win’: Liberal campaigners feared Brethren-fuelled Dutton victory

The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church was so enmeshed in local Liberal campaigns that they were cleaning candidates’ houses. Now a new inquiry has been launched.

  • Michael Bachelard
Dilbag Singh Sidhu, one of the organisers of the parade which police say cannot proceed this year.

Annual street parade blocked by police due to crowd, safety fears

Organisers of one of Sydney’s largest annual street parades have been left scrambling after NSW Police and a local council blocked it from going ahead.

  • David Barwell
Albanese’s reluctance to engage in controversial social debates will be tested when he returns to parliament with an increased majority.

Albanese has shied from culture wars. This one waits for him when parliament resumes

Labor’s large majority is raising expectations the government will progress difficult issues such as a Religious Discrimination Act.

  • Natassia Chrysanthos
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Antisemitism and Islamophobia are nothing new in this country. But community and political leaders can help keep them in check by toning down their own rhetoric.

Major party impasse threatens to unravel proposed hate speech laws

Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Adel Salman said the political defence should never have been dropped from the government’s anti-vilification legislation.

  • Chip Le Grand
Independent Allegra Spender is seeking support for her amendment from both the government and opposition.

Last-ditch push to beef up hate speech laws in wake of antisemitic attacks

Independent MP Allegra Spender is pushing to restore bans on vilification to hate speech legislation to be discussed in parliament this week.

  • David Crowe
Premier Jacinta Allan and Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes with members of multicultural and advocacy groups on Tuesday.

‘United against American-style division’: Long-awaited anti-vilification reforms reach parliament

Premier Jacinta Allan has detailed the changes, which include up to five years’ jail for inciting hateful or threatening behaviour.

  • Carla Jaeger and Kieran Rooney
Waves of protests over the war in Gaza have led Jewish Australians to push the government to protect them from hate speech.

Jewish leaders warn weak hate speech laws won’t stop ‘ugly’ threats, chants and slurs

The war in Gaza has reopened a debate over hate speech in Australia. Jewish leaders say Labor’s new watered-down hate crimes laws fall short.

  • Natassia Chrysanthos