The ACT government will introduce legislation to strengthen hate crime and vilification laws, including expanding bans on Nazi symbols and requiring courts to consider hate motivation when sentencing offenders.

The Hate Crime and Vilification Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 is scheduled to be introduced in December following a review of the territory’s civil and criminal laws covering hate speech, vilification and hate-motivated conduct.

The bill would clarify that vilification protections apply when someone is targeted because of an attribute they are perceived to have, regardless of whether that perception is correct.

It would also simplify the serious vilification offence and increase the maximum penalty to include imprisonment.

Existing prohibitions on Nazi symbols would be expanded to include the Nazi salute and Nazi double-sig rune, commonly known as SS bolts.

Courts would also be expressly required to consider whether an offence was motivated by hatred towards a protected attribute when sentencing an offender.

The review made nine recommendations and found substantial under-reporting of hate speech and prejudice-motivated conduct, with barriers including fear of retaliation, limited awareness of legal protections, language and accessibility difficulties and mistrust of institutions.

About 100 stakeholders were invited to participate in targeted consultation between February and March, with 26 written submissions received.

The government will also consult further on a proposed offence targeting the use of false or misleading representations to lure people into homophobic or other prejudice-motivated attacks.

It will work with police and the ACT Human Rights Commission to improve information about legal protections and how incidents can be reported.

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