Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed down on the most controversial part of his post-Bondi hate speech bill in an effort to minimise political damage – as new polls show his popularity is taking a beating.
The PM announced he would scrap a plan to criminalise racial vilification. It is his government’s second backflip since the December 14 Bondi attack, which claimed the lives of 15 innocent victims, following his about-turn on a royal commission.
A new Resolve Political Monitor, published Sunday night by Nine, showed Labor’s primary vote dropped 5 points in a month to 30 per cent – its lowest since February 2025 – while its two-party lead dropped to 52-48 per cent from 55-45 per cent.
Personally, Albanese’s net performance rating plunged from plus 6 in early December to minus 22. His lead as preferred prime minister over Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has narrowed by 11 points and is now 33 per cent to 29 per cent.
Some 56 per cent thought Albanese’s response to the Bondi attack was poor; while 53 per cent rated Ley’s response as good.
Similarly disappointing results for Labor were recorded in the latest Newspoll, published in The Australian on Sunday night, which found Albanese’s net approval had dropped to minus 11.
Surprisingly, both polls showed a strong surge in voter support for One Nation. The Resolve poll had the minor party at 18 per cent – nipping at the heels of the Coalition, which was up just 2 points to 28 per cent.
But the Newspoll found One Nation had overtaken the Coalition’s primary vote, with the former claiming 22 per cent while the latter sat at just 21 per cent.
Anthony Albanese’s (pictured) approval rating has dropped to minus 22 in a new Resolve poll
Of those surveyed, 56 per cent thought Albanese’s response to the terror attack at Bondi beach was poor
Both polls underscore that a vast number of Australians are dissatisfied with the major parties.
Newspoll says that Labor and Coalition combined are now registering the lowest support in the poll’s history, with nearly half (47 per cent) backing minor parties and independents.
Albanese’s flip-flops since December have not done him any favours, but cracks had been appearing beforehand in the form of the parliamentary expenses scandal.
The PM will be able to pass gun reform laws post-Bondi – including an expensive buyback plan – with the backing of the Greens, even though the Nationals are firmly against them.
The key measures now up for negotiation with the Coalition include migration and hate crime-related provisions, including to facilitate the banning of extremist organisations, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, that promote hatred on the basis of race.
There was still no deal done late Sunday and Ley had already described the bill as ‘pretty unsalvageable’.
Once the Greens said late last week they would not support the legislation in total at this week’s special parliamentary sitting, Albanese quickly threw in the towel on the section that would have outlawed racial vilification.
Opposition figures attacked the anti-vilification provision as limiting free speech. This was despite the Coalition having said Labor should implement a report from the envoy on combating antisemitism, Jillian Segal, who recommended action on vilification.
Albanese’s lead over Opposition Leader Sussan Ley (pictured) has narrowed by 11 points to 33 per cent and 29 per cent
A survey by Newspoll found One Nation had overtaken the Coalition in the primary vote (pictured, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson)
Albanese made it clear the racial vilification measure will be abandoned entirely and not brought back later.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive, Peter Wertheim, on Sunday expressed concern the dropping of the proposed vilification offence would send a message that the ‘deliberate promotion of racial hatred is not considered serious enough to be criminalised’.
‘How much worse do things need to get before we as a nation finally have the courage to tackle the deliberate promotion of antisemitic hatred that is the heart of the problem,’ Wertheim said.
‘We exhort the major parties to work together to get legislation passed now that will advance us further down the road towards having effective laws against the deliberate promotion of racial hatred.’
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, while welcoming the retreat on the vilification measure, expressed concern about what was still proposed.
Council president Rateb Jneid said: ‘When power to outlaw organisations rests on secret evidence and political discretion, it stops being about the law and becomes ideology and politics with the force of the state behind it’.
Parliament will devote Monday to condolences following the Bondi massacre. On Thursday, Australia will have a national day of mourning.
