Speech by Michael Cope for 19 April 2026 "Not our laws" rally

Notes for remarks to Not our Laws Rally out side Parliament House 19 April 2026

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Acknowledge traditional owners

QCCL was founded 59 years to respond to the attacks on the anti Vietnam war protests at that time. We are proud to continue to defend one of the most important of universal basic rights, the right to free speech

These laws are particularly egregious in that they seek to silence the largest protest movement in the last 50 years

We live in a society where there is an irreducible conflict of values.Given the lack of consensus about values in our society the underlying idea must be that everyone of us would want equal freedom with everyone else to be able to express our values and ideas as they relate to government and the management of our society.

The new law applies where a member of the public feels menaced, harassed or offended. This is an extremely subjective test and will vary from person to person

The fundamental principle of freedom of speech in Australia, is that “ causing offence” is an inevitable result of maintaining freedom of speech principles and rights. Too many people are offended by too much and phrases such as hatred are too vague to form the basis of criminal offence.

The meanings of the banned expressions are equally the subject of dispute with even different Jewish groups disagreeing as to the meaning and effect of the sayings.

And yet a breach of these laws carries a sentence of 2 years imprisonment.

The defences provided in the law are likely to lack utility  especially as the onus of proof is reversed and placed on the defence.

In our view protecting free speech means that Banning any slogan in public protests that does not contain an immediate incitement to violence is an unjustified attack and limitation on freedom of speech

The problem with laws such as these is that they set a precedent. Once a law is passed banning a phrase or symbol the experience will be used to justify banning others. And in Queensland with no upper house there is no effective restraint on the government of the day.

The Bondi beach terrorists, appear to have been hardline Islamists. Do we really imagine that had these phrases been censored, or all pro-Palestinian demonstrations banned, the Akrams would not have perpetrated their horror? To believe this is to refuse to take Islamist terror seriously.

 And yet this is precisely what the police minister Mr Purdie said. He said that “the hate speech laws would criminalise phrases that led to people being murdered at Bondi”. That statement is not only unsupported by any evidence but undermines the moral responsibility of the bigots who perpetrated the mass murder at Bondi.

I’m sure when the Premier looks at the pictures of this weekends events he will be ecstatic at how effective his laws have been in stopping the largest protest movement in the last 50 years

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