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NSW Premier Chris Minns has vowed to amend the state’s hate speech laws, following a spate of antisemitic attacks over the past few months.

Minns says the existing laws criminalise acts inducing violence, while vilification has been dealt with in civil courts, requiring a private individual to launch a prosecution. 

“So we’re going to be looking at that aspect of the law,” Minns told the ABC. “It’s in place in other jurisdictions around Australia. 

“I don’t think that the spark for these attacks, whether it’s a firebombing, whether it’s graffiti, whether it’s malicious damage, begins and ends with someone on a street corner in Sydney’s east. I think it begins with the kind of hateful rhetoric that inspires someone to commit a destructive, racist act,” said Minns. 

On Friday, the former home of prominent Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin was vandalised, and two cars were set alight. 

Ryvchin, who is co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, visited the scene of the attack at Dover Heights in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. 

“There is an evil at work in this country and we have to recognise that there are people who are so consumed by hatred that they would seek to burn people because they disagree with their words,” said Ryvchin. 

In November, a review of section 93Z of the Crimes Act 1900 by the NSW Law Reform Commission recommended against changes. The section deals with serious racial and religious vilification. 

“[T]he low number (of prosecutions) does not, of itself, make the case for reform. The fact that an appeal against a conviction under s 93Z has been dismissed demonstrates that the section is operable and has a role to play in appropriate circumstances,” the review said. 

Minns has told the ABC the problem has been periodically demonstrated for many years. 

“There’s bad people in our community that preach hatred and talk about dividing our community. In some cases they’ve been prosecuted, in many cases, they haven’t,” said Minns. 

Speaking to Radio National’s Sally Sara, the Premier conceded islamophobia was also prevalent in NSW, but said there had been a “dramatic rise” in antisemitic attacks. 

“I’m … not making the case … that we should be turning a blind eye to any kind of racist vilification in our community. Where it occurs, wherever it occurs, there needs to be a common set of rules and they need to be applied consistently,” he said.