Australia likes to call itself a democracy, but how can we have a real democracy when people can be thrown in jail for saying something a judge deems “hateful”? The country’s new hate speech law is a dangerous step toward authoritarianism. It expands the definition of “hate speech” in vague and arbitrary ways, lowers the standard for prosecution, and threatens to shut down open debate.

The biggest problem with hate speech laws is that they rely on someone else’s arbitrary opinion. Who gets to decide what counts as hate? Under the old law, speech had to be proven to be intended as incitement. Now, a judge can lock you up just for being “reckless” with your words—even if you had no bad intentions.

And it gets worse. The law used to criminalize “threatening to use violence,” but now it punishes people for “threatening to use force.” That change might seem small, but it’s actually huge. As former MP Craig Kelly pointed out, under this law, you could face up to seven years in jail for saying something like, “We have to beat Labor,” “We have to kick them out of Parliament,” or “We need to smash them in the voting booth.” If a judge wants to put you away, he now has the power to do it.

If people are afraid they might go to prison for something they say, they’ll stop talking. That’s how democracy dies—not necessarily through mass arrests, but through fear.

How are we supposed to discuss important issues like immigration if someone can claim our concerns are “racist hate speech”? How can we talk about the cultural impact of foreign religions without being accused of xenophobia? What about questioning the radical LGBTQ movement? Will that now be labelled “homophobic” or “transphobic” hate speech?

You might think, Well, that won’t happen. But the fear that it could happen is enough to make people stay silent. And when people are too scared to speak their minds, democracy is dead.

What’s more, Christians have been called hateful for years just for quoting the Bible. Remember Israel Folau? He lost his career for sharing a Bible verse. Critics lined up to say that “hate speech has no place in Australia.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Folau’s beliefs “reprehensible” and “rubbish” that should be “called out” and “rejected.”

Now, with this new law, the same people who think the Bible is hate speech actually have the power to imprison people for hate speech.

This law is a disgrace. It gives judges too much power, criminalizes speech based on vague definitions, and makes people afraid to speak. Free speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, democracy will die.*

* For legal purposes I’m compelled to clarify that this is a prediction and should in no way be interpreted as a threat of force or violence!