The controversial changes to race-hate laws will be dumped, Prime Minister Tony Abbott revealed yesterday.
Mr Abbott conceded the push to remove key sections of the Racial Discrimination Act had become a “complication” for his government and alienated ethnically diverse communities.
The introduction of the changes in March caused huge backlash from ethnic, indigenous and religious groups after Attorney-General George Brandis said “people had the right to be bigots”.
The Prime Minister said he made a “leadership call” to pull the changes yesterday.
“I don’t want to do anything that puts our national unity at risk at this time and so those proposals are now off the table,” he said.
The government was flooded with more than 5000 submissions on the changes calling for the Coalition to leave section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act unchanged.
The government will now focus on plans to give security agencies the resources and legal powers they need to tackle “evolving” threats.
$630 million has been promised to agencies like ASIO, Australian Federal Police and Customs and Boarder Protection in the next four years to tackle terrorism.
The new changes are set to make it easier to identify charge and prosecute people who have engaged in terrorist activities overseas.
“I stress that the terrorist threat here in this country has not changed. Nevertheless it is as high as it’s ever been,” Mr Abbott said.
The criteria for authorities to be granted control orders and search warrants will also be loosened, while Senator Brandis will seek to make phone companies retain customers’ phone metadata (basic call and location information).
Source: ABC, The Australian