Australian rights groups urge tougher anti-hate laws to tackle racial abuse

Australian civil rights groups are calling to toughen anti-hate laws in the State of Victoria to curb the rise of racially motivated abuse toward Asian background residents amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Xinhua.

On Friday, the minority rights group Asian Australian Alliance (AAA) joined a coalition of union, civil society and faith-based groups to submit their proposal before a Victorian parliamentary committee review the state's anti-vilification legislation.

National Convener of the AAA Erin Wen Ai Chew told Xinhua that although she wouldn't call the related laws in Victoria weak, they are currently not strong enough in terms of prosecuting hate crimes and that's why they are calling for change.

Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, the AAA has received close to 400 reports of racist attacks against people with Asian background, including verbal and physical assaults, death threats and property damage.

However, they said the vast majority of these attacks went unreported to the police.

"Ninety percent of the respondents have not reported the incidents to the police or a statutory body, as many of them believe that they will not get adequate redressal, or they lack confidence in the authorities," AAA Victorian State Convener Molina Swarup Asthana said.

The changes being proposed in Victoria would provide more responsibilities for law enforcement to look at the crimes where there is racial intention or hate, which is against the law, and even more importantly, prosecutable.

"Where there is currently 'anti-discrimination laws' in place in Victoria and in all the other states in Australia, this proposed change will strengthen the laws and will make things clearer for law enforcement and statutory bodies as to how to go about prosecuting the crime," Chew explained.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there were several highly publicized racist attacks against Asians in the Victorian State Capital of Melbourne, including a death threat painted on the garage door of a Chinese-Australian family.

Chew told Xinhua this particular case was under police investigation but she is cautiously optimistic the proposed changes would help address issues like this, which are of serious concern to the Asian community.

"The proposed change will also make the process of prosecution a lot more streamlined and hopefully through community engagement, and if this change gets through, this will change the minds of Asian Australians," she said.