Changing race hate speech law would give abuse a foothold, says Bill Shorten
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Version 0 of 1. Protecting people from prejudice and hate speech is part of the Australian citizenship contract, according to Bill Shorten, who strongly rebuffed comments by the attorney general, George Brandis, that “people have a right to be bigots”. “No one has a right to bigotry and racism has no place in the modern Australia,” Shorten told an audience at the Migration Council award dinner. “Protecting people from prejudice and hate speech is part of the contract Australian citizenship promises all its citizens,” he said. “In this debate we need to put ourselves in the shoes of those who have come here fleeing persecution and bigotry in their own country.” The opposition leader was responding to comments by Brandis in the Senate that “people have a right to be bigots”. Freedom of speech, Brandis said, was about defending the right of people to express opinions, no matter how offensive. Brandis is in the process of drafting changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, after the conservative commentator Andrew Bolt was found to have breached section 18C which outlaws the right “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” a person or group because of their “race, colour or national or ethnic origin”. The attorney general has yet to reveal the changes, which have already caused disquiet in his party room. Asked about Brandis’s comments in the lower house on Monday, Tony Abbott said free speech could sometimes “upset” and “offend” but it was important to remember freedom and democracy rested on the right of free speech. “This government is determined to try to ensure that Australia remains a free, fair and tolerant society where bigotry and racism have no place,” Abbott told the house after Brandis’s comments. “But we also want this country to be a nation where freedom of speech is enjoyed. “In opposition, before the election, we said that we would repeal section 18C in its current form. That is what we said we would do before the election and that, as the Australian people would expect, is exactly what we are doing after the election,” he said. But in his speech late on Monday night, Shorten called on Australia to “put the politics of fear behind us” and warned that the repeal of 18C of the act would provide a foothold for abuse. “Many respected experts strong argue that the repeal of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act would remove an important safeguard against prejudice,” he said. “It risks providing a foothold for divisive, hateful abuse masquerading as free speech.” |