A nationally consistent approach to exclusion zones outside places of worship is also on his agenda, with Victoria and NSW considering measures to ban concerning protests.

Pressure is mounting for greater action amid a rise in discrimination, hate speech, vilification, and anti-Semitic attacks including the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.

The federal government introduced its bill to combat hate crimes into the parliament in September. The proposal would create new offences for threatening force or violence against targeted groups and their members, and strengthen existing offences for urging force or violence.

But the Member for Macnamara wants the threshold to be lowered to include harm caused to people from vilification, in the same way people can demonstrate serious harm from defamation in a court.

Mr Burns said the definition of harm would be specific so it was “not just offending people”.

“I am speaking to people across government to push for the strongest possible laws to combat damaging hate speech,” he said.

“We want to prevent discrimination in the same way that if someone was denied a job on the basis of their religion, that would cause them harm, this anti-vilification clause could address preventing a similar sort of thing happening.

“It is really important that the Liberal Party would support stronger measures to stamp out hate speech and I would hope that the parliament would come together to get the balance right and ensure that people are protected.”

Some church leaders have previously raised concerns that if the definition of force or violence included psychological harm, then the bill would put debate and disagreement, as well as religious teachings on gender and sexuality at risk.

There are similar concerns about the Victorian government’s own proposed hate speech laws which, like the federal laws, move beyond race and religious belief to include disability, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation.

Under the Allan government’s proposal, the legal test would be lowered to prohibit conduct that is “likely” to incite hatred against, serious contempt for, revulsion towards or severe ridicule of a person with a protected attribute.

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed on Sunday the Victorian government was set to introduce a suite of reforms in a bid to crackdown on the tide of anti-Jewish sentiment sweeping Australia.

The changes – which will come in addition to the new anti-vilification laws – include new police powers to break up protests where extremism and religious hatred are being fuelled and laws to ban face coverings and signs encouraging religious hatred.

Mr Burns is also working with the Victorian and NSW governments, which are considering exclusion zones outside places of worship.

Victoria already has safe access zones around reproductive clinics, so people can’t harass those attending to get an abortion.

He said new laws should prevent protests within a certain vicinity of places of worship and give police enforcement powers.

The adoption would address concerns from Australia’s domestic spy agency, ASIO, about inter-demonstration violence.

“We want national consistency to ensure that all places of worship have safe access and people can come and go and they won’t be facing intimidation and harassment outside,” Mr Burns said.

“This would be a preventive measure to ensure that people aren’t going into other people’s communities in large and organised groups and would ensure that inter-demonstration violence does not occur.”