The Australian federal government is confronting significant legislative hurdles as parliament reconvenes, with its comprehensive national security package facing bipartisan opposition. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026, drafted in response to the Bondi terror attack, appears unlikely to pass the Senate without substantial amendments.
The Greens party, led by Senator Larissa Waters, announced their intention to block the omnibus legislation unless it undergoes substantial revision. Waters emphasized that while her party supports proposed gun law reforms, the current bill’s provisions risk criminalizing legitimate political expression and fail to provide adequate protection for all religious communities, including Islamic groups.
“The risk of unintended consequences is too substantial to rush this legislation’s passage,” Waters stated, indicating the Greens would require extended consultation periods with legal experts and community representatives that the government’s accelerated timeline doesn’t permit.
Simultaneously, the Coalition opposition declared the legislation “unsalvageable” in its present form. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley criticized the proposal as “half-baked” and characterized by “confusion and contradiction,” pledging to introduce an alternative security package focusing on deportation protocols for non-citizens promoting extremism and enhanced arrest powers for Australian citizens engaging in hate speech.
The parliamentary impasse leaves the Albanese government needing to negotiate either with the Greens or Coalition to pass any version of the bill. The government’s fallback position involves referring the legislation to an intelligence committee for recommendations that might satisfy the Coalition’s concerns, though both major opposing parties have expressed fundamental objections to the bill’s current architecture.