A man wearing an Israeli national flag attends a memorial for the victims of the terrorist mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on Dec. 21, 2025. Audrey Richardson/Getty Images
A new study of Australian public opinion has found a wide gap between how strongly people want the government to act against hate speech and violence and how much they trust it to do so fairly.
The research followed the Dec. 14, 2025, attack at Bondi Beach, in which 15 people were killed in what is considered one of the worst terror attacks on Australian soil.
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According to the CIS study, 80 percent of Australians want tougher criminal penalties for community leaders who use their positions to promote violence, while 69 percent support empowering the government to ban groups that promote racial or religious hatred.
A majority—56 percent—places protection from hate speech above absolute free expression, and half support government doing whatever is necessary to protect religious groups, even if that limits individual rights.
Those sentiments have already been reflected by lawmakers.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, introducing tough new state-wide hate speech laws in February this year, attributed Australia’s lack of absolute free speech rights to its multicultural nature.
Across the study’s four specific measures—banning hate groups, imposing criminal penalties for hateful speech, censoring hateful media content, and funding education campaigns—support ranged from 49 to 53 percent.
Meanwhile, confidence that each measure would be applied fairly fell to between 30 and 34 percent, a gap of 15 to 21 percentage points.
The doubt reflects a broader lack of trust in institutions. Only 25 percent of Australians reported complete or a lot of trust in the federal government, and 16 percent in traditional media, compared with 41 percent for schools and universities and 40 percent for police and courts.
Asked what would most effectively address anti-Semitism and racism, 49 percent cited better education about diversity and the history of discrimination, followed by stronger laws and enforcement at 47 percent, while community dialogue and support for victims each were cited by 29 percent.
Nearly half of respondents, 48 percent, expected anti-Semitism and racism to increase over the next three years, while just 14 percent expected improvement.
