Penalties of up to $12,600 and court-ordered injunctions will be available if people are vilified, intimidated or threatened for participation in the same-sex marriage postal survey under a new proposed law.

Although the vilification provision would extend to both sides of the debate, Labor has warned a new bill will only provide limited protections and hurtful material will not be stopped.

On Tuesday the Coalition party room agreed on a bill for additional safeguards to the postal survey. The bill was released on Tuesday evening and requires approval from Labor before the government introduces it to parliament on Wednesday.

The bill bans vilification, intimidation and threats to cause harm based on a person’s sexuality, gender identity, intersex status, religious convictions or the views they hold or are perceived to hold about the survey.

It also bans bribery, hindering or interfering with survey responses and misleading information about the process of responding to the survey.

Labor and the government negotiated the extra protections after the opposition pushed for a ban on vilification.



Vilification and the other offences will be punishable by civil penalties of up to $12,600 and the bill contains a power to seek an injunction in the federal court to prevent publications or acts that breach the law. The provisions only last for the period of the postal survey.

Under the new law the attorney general will have a gatekeeper role, giving him the power of veto over lawsuits claiming a penalty. For suits claiming an injunction, the attorney general will only have the right to be notified and appear in the case.



The acting special minister of state, Mathias Cormann, told the party room the attorney general, George Brandis, would approach that gatekeeper role “with a bias towards freedom of speech”.

The bill requires communications about the postal survey to be authorised. Only the electoral commissioner and campaign organisations approved by the attorney general can apply for penalties.

Broadcasters who give a platform to one side of the debate, including the ABC and SBS, are required to give “a reasonable opportunity” to representatives of the opposing side to have their say.

The survey begins with the mailout of forms by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. The ABS will accept forms until 7 November and announce results on 15 November.

On Tuesday the Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, told her party room that the postal survey was “a difficult time for our community”.

“Already there are hateful ... and hurtful things being said. They might be said politely but they are hurtful and inaccurate [statements] about our families and children,” she said.

“This bill won’t protect against all of the hate speech we already see. It will provide some limited protection but the real leadership has to come from the parliament and the government. They have to stand up and speak out against those who engage in hate speech.”

University of Queensland free speech expert Katharine Gelber said it was “very likely” crude epithets such as “stop the fags” would be found to be vilification, as would material “stereotyping almost an entire group as child abusers”.



Coalition for Marriage ads linking same-sex marriage to gender education of children were “part and parcel of normal debate”, Gelber said. Even factually incorrect claims that marriage equality encouraged gender fluidity would not amount to vilification.