Besieged by ethnic leaders from practically every community, the wider public and his very own party, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott made a stunning backdown from a crusade to water down and remake the Racial Discrimination Act.
After months of consulting community groups and more than 5,000 submissions, include one from the online magazine, The Voice of the Maltese, and from the Maltese Community Councils of Victoria and NSW (more than 76 per cent of the submissions were against the proposed change), the Cabinet’s decision was unanimous.
The Attorney General, George Brandis’s infamous remarks in the Senate that “everyone has the right to be a bigot, you know” has resonated badly within the electorate and signalled the end of yet another Abbott election promise. The moment Brandis uttered those words, he lost the political argument.
The Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people because of their race or ethnicity”.
In March, Brandis pushed ahead with plans to water down the law. Section 18c had served the community very well for 20 years and it was the view of the majority that what Brandis and Abbott wanted to do was divisive and destructive.
Brandis’s statement that “everyone has a right to be a bigot” is misconceived and plainly wrong. The backdown was indeed a decision in favour of common sense because racism and bigotry have no place in Australia. It is not okay to be called a wog.
Abbott said that leadership is about preserving national unity on the essentials and that was why he had taken the position he opted for. “It was a ‘complication’ in the current environment and we’re just not going to proceed with it.
‘‘I’m a passionate supporter of free speech and if we were starting from scratch with section 18c, we wouldn’t have words such as offend and insult in the legislation. But we aren’t starting from scratch. We are dealing with the situation we find ourselves in and I want the communities of the country to be our friend not our critic,” he said, adding “I want to work with the communities of our country as Team Australia”.
Before last year’s election, the Coalition had promised to repeal section 18c, which became known as the ‘Bolt laws’ after News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt was prosecuted under the existing legislation for two comment pieces on white-skinned aboriginals.
The Attorney General’s draft law proposed a new section that would make it “unlawful for a person to do an act... that is reasonably likely to vilify another person or a group of persons or intimidate another person or group of persons”.
The draft would have removed safeguards against offending, insulting or humiliating someone.
A public storm led to months of delays and reports of angst at Cabinet level over proposed law changes
The ensuing public storm led to months of delays and reports of angst at Cabinet level over the proposed changes.
Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson said after the announcement: ‘‘Disturbed to hear the government has backed down on 18c and will keep offensive speech illegal.”
Wilson, an Abbott appointee and former analyst with the Institute of Public Affairs, has been vocal in his support for changes to the racial discrimination laws, saying they prevent equality.
“A law that was controversial when it was introduced, controversial in its operation, a controversial act today,” he said. “The Racial Discrimination Act significantly restricts free speech in a waythat all other anti-discrimination lawsdo not and the government seems to foolishly think that backing down will assist them or be in the best interest of the Australian population.”
The Institute of Public Affairs, which had lobbied for the changes, reacted with venom, accusing the Prime Minister of breaking a promise. “The Liberal/ National Coalition’s failure to fulfil its promise to restore free speech inAustralia by repealing section 18c ofthe Racial Discrimination Act is incredibly disappointing.”
Labour Opposition leader Bill Shorten said it was an “embarrassing backdown” by the government. Brandis had been “rolled” and “humiliated”, he said.
Recalling Brandis’s comments earlier this year that Australians had the right to be bigots, Shorten commented that “there is no right to be a bigot in this country”.
Lawrence Dimech is a former Consul for Malta in New South Wales.