Independent Review: criminal hate speech

Overview

What’s this about?

Attorney General Michael Daley has appointed former NSW Supreme Court Justice, the Honourable John Sackar AM KC ('the Reviewer'), to review criminal law hate speech protections. The review findings are to be reported to the Attorney General by 5 November 2025.

The review is to consider criminal law protections against hate speech for vulnerable communities.

The Reviewer will assess whether existing protections are sufficient and recommend possible improvements, following the NSW Parliament passing the Crimes Amendment (Inciting Racial Hatred) Act 2025 (uncommenced), which criminalises the intentional incitement of racial hatred by a public act. The Terms of Reference for the review are set out in the Issues Paper available on this webpage (see Documents tab below).

The Reviewer seeks written submissions from stakeholders to assist the review. The Issues Paper contains a summary of the key issues as well as focus questions that stakeholders may wish to respond to.

Have your say

Have your say by 5pm Wednesday 6 August 2025.

There is 1 way to submit your feedback.

Please provide your submission to PRLIndependentReviewSecretariat@dcj.nsw.gov.au by 5pm Wednesday 6 August 2025. 

Please advise us if you do not consent to your submission being published online or referred to in the final report for the review.

Documents