Representatives of the Indigenous, Greek, Jewish, Chinese, Armenian and Korean communities are continuing their campaign to persuade Federal politicians against any repeal or watering down of Australia’s laws against racial vilification.
The Abbott government, in the name of freedom of speech, has signalled its intention to review the law in light of the Bolt case but community groups have rallied to its defence.
The Racial Discrimination Act of 1975, and specifically section 18C, makes it a criminal act to use language that insults, offends or humiliates a person on the basis of race or ethnicity.
In 2011, columnist Andrew Bolt was found by the Federal Court to have contravened sections of the Racial Discrimination Act which prohibit public conduct that is reasonably likely to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” a person or groups because of their skin colour or national or ethnic origin.
Bolt had written a series of articles challenging the identity and bona fides of “light-skinned Aborigines”. The Court found that the articles “contained errors of fact, distortions of the truth and inflammatory and provocative language”.
Bolt did not appeal the decision.
“We have now spoken to Federal MP’s in the Coalition, ALP, the Greens, Independents and the minor parties and have been receiving across the board expressions of support for our position”, George Vellis, Co-ordinator, the Australian Hellenic Council said this week.
“Once people understand that the existing law only applies to serious cases and requires an objective test to be satisfied based on community standards, rather than a subject test based on hurt feelings, it becomes clear that the current law has nothing to do with limiting free speech. It does not stop anybody from offending or insulting others because of their opinions or beliefs.
People can change their opinions or beliefs. But the current law does prohibit publicly offending and insulting others because of their race, which is something people cannot change.”
“Offending and insulting other people because of their race is not about persuasion. It’s about attacking their human dignity.”
George Vellis said that the breadth and depth of support for the current legislation among members of Parliament from across the political spectrum had “exceeded our most ambitious hopes”. “The Racial Discrimination Act is one of Australia’s most iconic pieces of legislation. It goes to the heart of Australia’s identity as a nation that is both democratic and culturally diverse. The Act ought not to be changed unless there are truly compelling reasons. The outcome of the Bolt case falls a long way short in that regard”.
The Australian Human Rights Commission received in 2012 a 59 per cent increase in complaints about racial abuse in the work place, on radio, on public transport and elsewhere, while the complaints per year in relation to alleged violations of the right of freedom of expression are less than five.