Project No. 86

The Criminal Code Amendment (Incitement to Racial Hatred) Bill, which sought to implement the Commission’s recommendations, was introduced into the Legislative Assembly in October 1989. Its passage was marked by wide ranging debate. The Bill was eventually passed and the Criminal Code Amendment (Racist Harassment and Incitement to Racial Hatred) Act 1990 (WA) received the Royal Assent on 9 October 1990. The Act now constitutes Chapter XI of the Criminal Code 1913 (WA).

The Commission’s recommendations were substantially implemented by the Act. However, the element of ‘threatening, abusive or insulting’ was reduced to simply ‘threatening or abusive’ in respect of all four enacted offences. Further, the Commission’s recommendation for the third and fourth offences to include ‘intended or likely to cause serious harassment, alarm, fear or distress’ was limited by Parliament to ‘intends any racial group to be harassed’. In view of these small but nevertheless significant changes to the nature and scope of the Commission’s proposed offences, the question whether the legislation sufficiently deters acts that incite racial hatred remains.