Victorian Labor vows to counteract any changes to Racial Discrimination Act
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Version 0 of 1. The federal government’s proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act will be fully counteracted in Victoria if Labor wins the state election in November, the party has confirmed. Victoria’s opposition said it will bring in legislation which will replicate section 18C of the commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act if the federal Coalition goes ahead with its plan to repeal it. Labor said its bill, if passed, would make it unlawful to “insult, offend or humiliate” someone in Victoria on the basis of their race or origin. The federal attorney general, George Brandis, has come under pressure from various community groups over his proposal to repeal section 18C of the act. Brandis has argued the change would support freedom of speech but critics, including Labor, claim it would open the door to racist denigration. Recent polls indicate Labor is comfortably ahead of the governing Coalition in Victoria. A Nielsen survey in June put the opposition ahead by 56% to 44% on previous election preferences. Should Labor triumph in November’s state election, it doesn’t expect the federal government to challenge its new discrimination legislation, given that section 6A of the act allows the states to make their own laws in this area. “It would be outrageous if the commonwealth interfered with the right of state governments to protect their citizens from bigotry simply because George Brandis thinks people have a right to be bigots,” Martin Pakula, Victoria’s shadow attorney general, told Guardian Australia. “We have had no contact from the commonwealth government, but if senator Brandis wants to challenge the right of a future Victorian Labor government to protect our multicultural community, let him try. “We think every Victorian, and indeed every Australian, has a right to go about their business without being humiliated and abused on the basis of their race, their nationality or their religion. “And we think government has an important role to play in setting a standard and showing leadership about what is acceptable and appropriate. The Abbott government might think it is OK to be a bigot. We have a different view.” The Victorian government has so far declined to back Brandis’s proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act. Matthew Guy, the multicultural affairs minister, told parliament in March he was concerned the amendment may have some “harmful and unintended impacts upon our community”. |