00:01The reason this matter has ended up in the High Court today is because the White Australia
00:06Party is challenging new hate speech laws that the government introduced back in January
00:12in the wake of the Bondi-Harnica attack in December last year.
00:16Now those laws have the power to prohibit certain groups that they say spread hatred.
00:22White Australia has been declared one of those groups back in May.
00:26At the time White Australia was on the cusp of forming its own political party and they
00:32say that these laws effectively outlaw them and scuttle those ambitions entirely.
00:38They're challenging the constitutional validity of those laws in the High Court.
00:44Members of White Australia also known as the National Socialist Network have been present
00:49before the High Court today and they've filled the gallery.
00:52The gallery and the upstairs viewing platform are both full today with members and observers
00:58in this particular matter and that's also brought an increased and more visible police presence
01:04to the High Court.
01:05Now the White Australia Party is challenging these laws on three grounds.
01:09They say that the Commonwealth doesn't actually have the constitutional power to make them
01:13in the first place.
01:14They claim they breach the separation of powers and they also argue that these laws burden
01:20the implied freedom of political communication.
01:23Now for its part the Commonwealth says that these laws are necessary for Australia to be able
01:29to uphold its international obligations to protect against extremism and they also argue
01:35that White Australia is only seeking to become a political party in order to secure the protections
01:41that the freedom of political communication laws that we have in Australia afford them.
01:46Now the barrister for White Australia, Peter King, has been making oral submissions before
01:52the full bench of the High Court today.
01:54He's lent quite heavily on the precedent of the Australian Communist Party case which attempted
02:00back in the day of Robert Menzies to ban a different type of political group.
02:04We'll hear from the Commonwealth either later this afternoon or tomorrow when this case
02:09is expected to continue.
