By Grace Crivellaro and Tess Ikonomou in Canberra

The opposition has slammed Labor’s sweeping hate speech laws as “unsalvageable” and a clumsy attempt to combat anti-Semitism following the Bondi massacre.

The federal government’s draft laws in response to the December 14 attack seek to crack down on hate preachers, increase penalties for hate speech, and create a national gun buy-back scheme after two Islamic-inspired shooters killed 15 Hanukkah revellers at Bondi Beach.

It will require the support of either the coalition or the Greens to pass.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the coalition had “extremely serious concerns” about the legislation and that it doesn’t address Islamic extremism or the rise of anti-Semitism.

“The opposition will continue to scrutinise this legislation carefully, but from what we have seen so far, it looks pretty unsalvageable,” she told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

“Our job is to pass laws that contain clear offences for courts and police to use. Instead, the flaws in this bill will add confusion and delay in the charging and sentencing of terrorist offenders.”

Ms Ley would seek to enshrine definitions of anti-Semitism in the law.

The prime minister earlier said he was stunned by the coalition’s complaints about the bill being rushed after they repeatedly demanded parliament return before Christmas to pass laws.

“The coalition, day after day, very clearly called for parliament to be recalled not on Monday, January 19, but during Christmas week,” he told ABC Radio.

“Now they’re saying that this is somehow rushed.”

The opposition leader rejected she was being hypocritical and maintained parliament should have been recalled before Christmas.

“We wanted immediate action … they’ve taken a month to deliver this bad bill,” Ms Ley said.

Senator Jonathon Duniam said the government had “done well” in bringing the laws urgently, but they failed to address anti-Semitism.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke labelled the coalition’s criticisms as “ridiculous” and there could not be a more “serious impetus for urgent action”.

The coalition has not yet decided on its support for the legislation, with Nationals senator Susan McDonald saying the bill “has very few friends” and sought to do too much.

Barnaby Joyce, who has recently joined One Nation, said the party would not back the legislation as it would punish “recreational pig shooters in country areas” who should not be lumped in with terrorists.

He told ABC Radio that Sydney residents could be “easily cajoled” into believing the gun reforms were a solution post-terror attack as they generally don’t own firearms.

Hate speech laws will be debated on Monday when parliament returns early following the December 14 massacre at Bondi Beach.

Under the changes, hate speech and racial vilification offences would be introduced with a defence included for people quoting directly from a religious text.

Religious leaders have urged the government to halt and rewrite the laws, saying it may open people up to prosecution over past remarks in its current form.

Anglican Bishop Michael Stead said the reform created a “minefield of definitions” about hate and the bill included a retrospective element in relation to banned groups.

Dr Stead told a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday the bill could be expanded to claim Christian teaching caused serious harm, leading to a Christian organisation being listed as a hate group.

Imam Shadi Alsuleiman warned the bill “disproportionately burdens the Australian Muslim community”. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

Australian National Imams Council President Sheikh Shadi Alsuleiman also said the bill created “serious legal uncertainty” by exposing past lawful speech to new penalties.

Sheikh Alsuleiman said the reform needed to be delayed by at least a month because a time frame of one week to consider all the implications was unreasonable.

A report on the hate speech reforms is due on Friday before debate next week.