Councils will be given greater powers to cut off power and water and levy tougher fines against rogue prayer centres across the State but NSW Premier Chris Minns conceded on Monday police will not have the final say over shutting down so-called hate preachers.
“Not a big role,” he told reporters at Parliament House in Sydney when asked about police involvement.
“At the end of the day, the council has extra powers here rather than a nominal fee to close down an institution as they do for example, illegally-constituted boarding houses.”
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Canterbury Bankstown Council in Sydney’s southwest late last year ordered the closure of the Islamist Al Madina Dawah Centre, which has threatened to reopen.
The step was taken after the centre’s preacher, Wissam Haddad, was found by Federal Court judge Angus Stewart to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act with sermons describing Jews as “treacherous” and “vile” people.
Asked how prayer halls would be forced to shut down if they refused, Mr Minns said: “Self evidently with this legislation”.
The Premier said that police would not have a veto over a prayer hall, leaving that to the council, which would have to consult with police before approving new places of worship.
“No, they’ll just be supplying the information to say ‘we’ve shut this down previously’ but you’re going to your decision making about the future classification,” he said.
“We’re not asking the local councils to draw a distinction between whether it has been a place of hate speech and disunity in our community. The simple question that will be applied by the council is ‘Are you operating illegally?’ Straightforward.”
Higher fines
Individuals who defy orders to shut down a prayer hall will be fined $110,000, up from $11,000 now. For corporations, the fine will rise to $220,000, up from $22,000.
“That will provide the disincentive we believe that will see those that are operating prayer halls in our suburbs, in our community … to shut down before they can preach hate, before they can put hate in people’s hearts,” Mr Minns said.
Under existing laws, the person on the nominal lease is fined by a council if it’s found to be operating illegally.
“That’s too easily ignored by someone who was determined to keep their place of worship open in the face of a council saying that it must close,” Mr Minns said. “So, these are tougher penalties.”
Prayer halls can be found to be operating illegally if they create traffic issues by moving to a new venue.
“It might not just be in relation to hate speech,” he said. “It might not just be in relation to divisive preachers in suburban streets. It might be as simple as traffic or the ability for a council to say, ‘This isn’t appropriate in this suburban street’.”
