Under the current Racial Discrimination Act, you can be found guilty of an offense if a judge deems that you have insulted or offended someone because of their race. But people take offense to all kinds of things, so the law is potentially very damaging to free speech.
The Liberal Government has rightly sought to tighten up the Act by repealing the section (18c) which defines vilification in terms of insulting or offending and instead making the definition a more serious one of inciting hatred or causing fear of physical harm.
There is much pressure on the Government to back down on this reform; the call has therefore gone out for people to make a submission in support of repealing 18c. This has to be done soon (by April 30th).
You can find more information on how to do this here; the official submission page is here.
Thanks for raising this point. Unfortunately, "conservative" politicians everywhere seem continually in search of a way to morph into David Cameron. Without encouragement and reminders to stiffen their spines, they are unlikely to follow through on their campaign rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteDone. I don't know if what I said was adequate. But probably no-one will care anyway, and at least I did the right thing by making a submission.
ReplyDeleteTitus, well done. I do think the left does sometimes "test the waters" when it comes to pushing an agenda, so displays of public opposition can at least have a short term benefit.
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